One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant monarda by looking at the USDA zone info for Tifton.

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 are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Tifton 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. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Tifton. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tifton is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Tifton it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tifton

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 Tifton

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