One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant monarda by using the USDA zone info for Sandy.

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.

Monarda tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Sandy 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. Starting your monarda indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Sandy. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Sandy is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sandy there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sandy

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sandy

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