One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant monarda is to look at the USDA zone info for Orange City.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

Frost tolerance for monarda:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Monarda can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Orange City is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Orange City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Orange City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Orange City you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orange City

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 Orange City

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