The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant gayfeather in West Des Moines should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Gayfeather are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in West Des Moines. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for West Des Moines may not be accurate from year to year 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 protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.