One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

A way of determining when to plant forget-me-not is to examine the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Forget-Me-Not

Frost tolerance for forget-me-not:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant forget-me-not a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant forget-me-not in Madison 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 forget-me-not and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your forget-me-not may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your forget-me-not indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Madison the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madison there is a last frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your forget-me-not if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Madison

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