The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In South Bay you can determine when to plant monarda by referring to the USDA zone info.

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.

You can plant monarda slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in South Bay 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in South Bay. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for South Bay is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in South Bay there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your monarda in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Bay

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in South Bay

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bay.