One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant monarda by checking out the USDA zone info for Slidell.

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 well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Slidell 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. Any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Slidell. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Slidell last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

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 Slidell

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