One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Clear Lake you can determine when it's a good idea 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.

Monarda tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Clear Lake 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. Any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your monarda indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Clear Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Clear Lake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Clear Lake last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your monarda if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Clear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clear Lake.