One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Madison you will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant garden mums.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Garden Mums do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your garden mums indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks 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.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Madison you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garden mums in the event of a surprise 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.