One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when you can plant tagetes is to check out the USDA zone info for El Dorado.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant tagetes until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in El Dorado 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in El Dorado. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for El Dorado is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in El Dorado it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your tagetes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Dorado

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in El Dorado

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Dorado.