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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Orange Beach you will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant monarda.

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.

Since monarda are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Orange Beach 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Orange Beach. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Orange Beach is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Orange Beach it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your monarda if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orange Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Orange Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Orange Beach.