One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant garden mums is to examine the USDA zone info for Malden.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Garden Mums do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Malden is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your garden mums indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Malden. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Malden is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Malden last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your garden mums in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Malden

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Malden

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