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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant melampodium is to refer to the USDA zone info for Excelsior Springs.

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 Excelsior Springs 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Excelsior Springs. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Excelsior Springs may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Excelsior Springs you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your melampodium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Excelsior Springs

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 Excelsior Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Excelsior Springs.