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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant iresene is to consult the USDA zone info for Melrose.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

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

Iresene require warm weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant iresene in Melrose 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your iresene may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your iresene indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Melrose. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Melrose is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Melrose you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your iresene if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melrose

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 Melrose

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