Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant marigold is to refer to the USDA zone info for Fort Smith.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

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

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Fort Smith 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. Any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Fort Smith. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Smith is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Smith there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your marigold in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Smith

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 Fort Smith

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Smith.