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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant marigold is to look at the USDA zone info for Lake City.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

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

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Lake City 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your marigold may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake City the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake City is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lake City it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your marigold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake City.