One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when to plant lemon grass is to examine the USDA zone info for West Des Moines.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

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

Lemon grass are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass in West Des Moines 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 lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lemon grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lemon grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind 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 you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon grass if you have 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.