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

The earliest that you can plant bidens in Melbourne should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bidens

Frost tolerance for bidens:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant bidens until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bidens in Melbourne 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 bidens and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bidens may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bidens indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Melbourne the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Melbourne you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your bidens if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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