One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 should be able to estimate when to plant tithonia by looking at the USDA zone info for Carmel.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

Frost tolerance for tithonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Tithonia are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in Carmel 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tithonia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind 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 Carmel and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Carmel it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your tithonia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carmel

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 Carmel

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