Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Cortez can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant melampodium.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

You really shouldn't plant melampodium until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Cortez 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cortez. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cortez may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cortez you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your melampodium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cortez

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 Cortez

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