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

In Ripon you can determine when you can plant melampodium by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Ripon 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 really do well. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Ripon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ripon is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripon you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

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 Ripon

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