One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant marigold is to examine the USDA zone info for Hopkins.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

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

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Hopkins 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Hopkins. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hopkins is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hopkins you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your marigold in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hopkins

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Hopkins

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