One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 determining when to plant calliopsis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

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

Calliopsis are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Madison 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 calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calliopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your calliopsis indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Madison. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madison there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your calliopsis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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