One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant melampodium by looking at the USDA zone info for Ironwood.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Ironwood is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ironwood the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in 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 Ironwood and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ironwood last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your melampodium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ironwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Ironwood

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