Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant mimulus is to examine the USDA zone info for New Bern.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

It's a bad idea to plant mimulus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in New Bern 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in New Bern. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New Bern is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Bern you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your mimulus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Bern

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 New Bern

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Bern.