Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant melampodium by reviewing the USDA zone info for Alexandria.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

You really shouldn't plant melampodium until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Alexandria 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. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Alexandria. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alexandria is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alexandria you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your melampodium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alexandria

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