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

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant melampodium is to look at the USDA zone info for Bettendorf.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Melampodium do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Bettendorf is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Bettendorf the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Bettendorf is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bettendorf there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bettendorf

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bettendorf

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