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

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Palestine should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

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.

Since monarda do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Palestine 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 Palestine you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your monarda if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palestine

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 Palestine

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