One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Fort Madison you can figure out when it's possible to plant marigold by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant marigold until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Fort Madison 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Madison. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Madison may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Madison it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your marigold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Madison

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 Fort Madison

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Madison.