Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Bristol can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time 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 not a good idea to plant melampodium until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Bristol 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. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Bristol. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bristol may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bristol there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your melampodium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bristol

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 Bristol

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