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

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant melampodium by checking out the USDA zone info for Stratford.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium require warm weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Stratford 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Stratford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Stratford is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Stratford you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your melampodium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Stratford

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 Stratford

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