One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Scottsboro you can determine when it's possible to plant marigold by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

You should not plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Scottsboro 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your marigold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your marigold indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Scottsboro is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Scottsboro there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your marigold in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Scottsboro

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 Scottsboro

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