One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Aurora you can determine when to plant marigold by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Aurora is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Aurora. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Aurora is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Aurora there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your marigold if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Aurora

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Aurora

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