One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 using the USDA zone info for Storm Lake you will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant coreopsis.

Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

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

Coreopsis are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant coreopsis in Storm 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 coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your coreopsis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your coreopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Storm Lake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Storm Lake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Storm Lake last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your coreopsis if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Storm 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 Storm Lake

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