One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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 it's the best time to plant marigold is to refer to the USDA zone info for Fate.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

You should not plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Fate 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Fate the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fate is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fate it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your marigold if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fate

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fate

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