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

In Columbus you can figure out when it's the best time to plant monarda by looking at 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 just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Columbus 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Columbus. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Columbus is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your monarda in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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