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

The first opportunity to plant melampodium in Charleston should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Charleston 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Charleston. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Charleston is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Charleston last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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