One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant matricaria is to consult the USDA zone info for Westchester.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Westchester 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. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Westchester. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Westchester is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Westchester last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your matricaria in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Westchester

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 Westchester

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