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 referring to the USDA zone info for Storm Lake you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant gazania.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

Frost tolerance for gazania:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since gazania do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gazania in Storm Lake is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gazania and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gazania may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gazania indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Storm Lake and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Storm Lake you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gazania in the event of 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.