One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Magnolia you can figure out when to plant monarda by using 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 do ok in very little 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 Magnolia 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your monarda may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Magnolia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Magnolia is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Magnolia it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your monarda in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Magnolia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Magnolia

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