Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Oakley you should be able to determine when it's a good idea 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.

Monarda do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Oakley 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. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your monarda indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Oakley the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oakley is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oakley last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your monarda if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oakley

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 Oakley

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