One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Ripley you can estimate when to plant tagetes by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant tagetes until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Ripley 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your tagetes indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ripley the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ripley may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripley it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your tagetes in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ripley

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 Ripley

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