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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Phoenix it's a good idea to estimate when to plant melampodium.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

You can not plant melampodium until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Phoenix 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Phoenix. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Phoenix and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Phoenix there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Phoenix

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Phoenix

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