When to Plant Monarda in Belleville, IL

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 Belleville you can estimate when it's the best time to plant monarda by referring to 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.

Since monarda are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant monarda
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant monarda
Probably not a good time to plant monarda

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Belleville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your monarda may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your monarda indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Belleville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Belleville is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Belleville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Belleville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Belleville

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