The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 it's the best time to plant monarda is to refer to the USDA zone info for Firebaugh.

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 slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Firebaugh 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. Any later than that and 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 Firebaugh. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Firebaugh is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Firebaugh you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Firebaugh

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 Firebaugh

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