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.

The first opportunity to plant melampodium in Converse can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since melampodium require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Converse 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Converse. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Converse is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Converse you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Converse

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 Converse

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