The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant monarda in Chittenango should be determined 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.

You can plant monarda a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Chittenango 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Chittenango the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chittenango is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chittenango you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chittenango

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 Chittenango

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