One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant matricaria by using the USDA zone info for Muscle Shoals.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Muscle Shoals 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Muscle Shoals. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Muscle Shoals and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Muscle Shoals you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your matricaria in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscle Shoals

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 Muscle Shoals

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Muscle Shoals.