One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Rapid City you can figure out when it's the best time to plant candytuft by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Candytuft

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

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

The earliest that you can plant candytuft in Rapid City 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 candytuft and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your candytuft may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your candytuft indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rapid City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rapid City you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your candytuft in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

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 Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.