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.

You should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant tagetes by looking at the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Tagetes require warm weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes 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 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 little bit earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your tagetes if you have 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.