One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 to plant monarda is to use the USDA zone info for Walnut Ridge.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

Frost tolerance for monarda:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant monarda just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Walnut Ridge is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

In Walnut Ridge the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Walnut Ridge is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Walnut Ridge you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Walnut Ridge

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 Walnut Ridge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Walnut Ridge.