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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant mimulus is to look at the USDA zone info for Melbourne.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

Since mimulus are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Melbourne. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Melbourne is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Melbourne you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your mimulus 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.