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 common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant matricaria is to consult the USDA zone info for Billings.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Billings is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Billings the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Billings is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Billings you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your matricaria in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Billings

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 Billings

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