One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 earliest that you can plant monarda in Grand Island should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

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 can survive in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Grand Island 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Grand Island the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Grand Island may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Grand Island you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Island

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Grand Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Island.