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.

In Blanchester you can determine when you can 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.

Since monarda are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Blanchester 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 fully mature. 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

In Blanchester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Blanchester is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Blanchester it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your monarda if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Blanchester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Blanchester

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