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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Madison you will be able to determine when to plant tarragon.

Planting Calendar for Tarragon

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

You can plant tarragon slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tarragon in Madison 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 tarragon and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tarragon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tarragon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Madison. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Madison is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tarragon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Madison.