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

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant monarda by referring to the USDA zone info for Fort Payne.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

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

Monarda do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Fort Payne 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your monarda may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Fort Payne the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fort Payne and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Payne last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Payne

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Payne

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Payne.