One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant maltese cross is to refer to the USDA zone info for Marion.

Planting Calendar for Maltese Cross

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

Maltese Cross do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant maltese cross in Marion 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 maltese cross and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your maltese cross may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your maltese cross indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marion. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Marion is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Marion last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your maltese cross in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marion

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 Marion

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