One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A way of figuring out when to plant melampodium is to look at the USDA zone info for Nashville.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium require warm weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Nashville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Nashville. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Nashville and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Nashville you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your melampodium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nashville

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 Nashville

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