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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Junction City it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant melampodium.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

You really shouldn't plant melampodium until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Junction City 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your melampodium 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 Junction City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Junction City is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Junction City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Junction City

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 Junction City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Junction City.