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.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant mimulus is to use the USDA zone info for Frederick.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

It's a bad idea to plant mimulus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Frederick 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your mimulus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Frederick. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Frederick may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Frederick you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your mimulus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Frederick

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 Frederick

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