One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Minneapolis you can figure out when it's the best time to plant tagetes by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since tagetes are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Minneapolis 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Minneapolis. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Minneapolis is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Minneapolis you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your tagetes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Minneapolis

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 Minneapolis

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