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 tagetes in Tampa can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

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

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Tampa 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tagetes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Tampa. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Tampa and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Tampa it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your tagetes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tampa

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 Tampa

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