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.

In Chattanooga you can determine when to plant melampodium by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Chattanooga 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 really do well. Starting your melampodium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Chattanooga. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Chattanooga may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chattanooga it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chattanooga

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Chattanooga

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