Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant melampodium is to look at the USDA zone info for Piedmont.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since melampodium do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Piedmont is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Piedmont may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Piedmont it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your melampodium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

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 Piedmont

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