One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You can figure out when to plant matricaria in Marion by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

Frost tolerance for matricaria:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Matricaria are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Marion is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Marion. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Marion and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Marion last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your matricaria in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marion

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 Marion

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