One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when you can plant marigold is to refer to the USDA zone info for South Haven.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You should not plant marigold until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in South Haven. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for South Haven and it is different every year. Half of the time in South Haven you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your marigold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Haven

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 South Haven

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Haven.