One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 it's a good idea to plant cleome is to refer to the USDA zone info for Monticello.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Cleome do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Monticello 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cleome indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Monticello. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Monticello is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Monticello you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cleome in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

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 Monticello

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