One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant tagetes is to check out the USDA zone info for Melrose Park.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

It's a bad idea to plant tagetes until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Melrose Park 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Melrose Park is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Melrose Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your tagetes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melrose Park

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 Melrose Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Melrose Park.