One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant painted tongues is to examine the USDA zone info for Marion.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Painted Tongues are not cold tolerant which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Marion 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Marion. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Marion is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Marion you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your painted tongues in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marion

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 Marion

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