One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of determining when to plant monarda is to look at the USDA zone info for Sandy.

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 tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Sandy 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sandy the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Sandy is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sandy last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your monarda if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sandy

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Sandy

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