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When to Plant Sweet Williams in Spirit Lake, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant sweet williams.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

Frost tolerance for sweet williams: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Sweet Williams can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet williams
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet williams
Probably not a good time to plant sweet williams

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in Spirit Lake is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet williams may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your sweet williams indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Spirit Lake. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Spirit Lake you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sweet williams if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spirit Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Spirit Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spirit Lake.