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.

The USDA zone info for Wilmington can be reffered to in order to determine when to plant tagetes.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant tagetes until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Wilmington 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. Any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your tagetes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Wilmington. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Wilmington is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your tagetes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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