One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when you can plant osteospermum by looking at the USDA zone info for Storm Lake.

Planting Calendar for Osteospermum

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

You can plant osteospermum a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant osteospermum 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 osteospermum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your osteospermum may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your osteospermum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Storm Lake is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Storm Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your osteospermum if you have a surprise 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.