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.

The first opportunity to plant marigold in Rockaway can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You can not plant marigold until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Rockaway 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Rockaway. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rockaway is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rockaway it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your marigold in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockaway

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

Plants to Grow in Rockaway

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