One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant erysimum is to refer to the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Erysimum

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

You can plant erysimum a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant erysimum in Madison 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 erysimum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your erysimum may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your erysimum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Madison. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madison it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your erysimum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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