Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 it's possible to plant mimulus in Madison by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

Frost tolerance for mimulus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You can not plant mimulus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Madison 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Madison it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your mimulus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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