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 way of getting a good idea when you can plant melampodium is to examine the USDA zone info for Marana.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium require warm weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Marana 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Marana. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marana is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Marana last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marana

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Marana

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