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.

In West Des Moines you can estimate when you can plant cerastium by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cerastium

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

You can plant cerastium just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cerastium in West Des Moines 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 cerastium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cerastium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cerastium indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In West Des Moines the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for West Des Moines is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in West Des Moines it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your cerastium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Des Moines

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 West Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Des Moines.