One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant melampodium is to refer to the USDA zone info for Isle of Palms.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

It's not a good idea to plant melampodium until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Isle of Palms 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 grow to maturity. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Isle of Palms. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Isle of Palms is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Isle of Palms there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Isle of Palms

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 Isle of Palms

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Isle of Palms.