One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant melampodium is to look at the USDA zone info for Summerville.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

It's 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 Summerville 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. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Summerville. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Summerville is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Summerville you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your melampodium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Summerville

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 Summerville

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