Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant erysimum is to examine the USDA zone info for Storm Lake.

Planting Calendar for Erysimum

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

Since erysimum are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant erysimum 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 erysimum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your erysimum may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your erysimum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Storm Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Storm Lake may not be accurate from year to year 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 cover your erysimum 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.