Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when you can plant melampodium is to look at the USDA zone info for Killeen.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Killeen 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Killeen. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Killeen is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Killeen last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your melampodium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Killeen

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 Killeen

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