One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 figuring out when you can plant monarda is to use the USDA zone info for Bessemer City.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

Frost tolerance for monarda:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Monarda tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Bessemer City 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Bessemer City. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Bessemer City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bessemer City last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your monarda if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bessemer City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bessemer City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bessemer City.