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

The first opportunity to plant monarda in Cambridge should be estimated by reviewing 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.

Since monarda do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant monarda and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your monarda indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cambridge. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Cambridge and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cambridge it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your monarda if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cambridge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Cambridge

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