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

The USDA zone info for Wilmington can be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant melampodium.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant melampodium until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Wilmington 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 fully mature. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Wilmington and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your melampodium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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