Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Hanford can be reviewed to estimate when it's the best time to plant monarda.

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 barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Hanford 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Hanford the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Hanford is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hanford last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hanford

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 Hanford

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