One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant melampodium is to examine the USDA zone info for Westminster.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Westminster 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Westminster. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Westminster and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Westminster there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Westminster

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Westminster

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