One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Bunkie you can estimate when it's the best time to plant monarda by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

Frost tolerance for monarda:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Monarda do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Bunkie is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Bunkie. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bunkie and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bunkie you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bunkie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bunkie

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