One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant melampodium by looking at the USDA zone info for Walled Lake.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Walled Lake 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Walled Lake. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Walled Lake is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Walled Lake you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Walled Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Walled Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Walled Lake.