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 figuring out when it's the best time to plant monarda is to consult the USDA zone info for Delano.

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.

Since monarda are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your monarda may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Delano. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Delano

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 Delano

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