One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 USDA zone info for Gatesville can be used to determine when to plant monarda.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

Frost tolerance for monarda:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Monarda do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Gatesville. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Gatesville is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gatesville there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your monarda in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gatesville

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 Gatesville

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