One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Culpeper you can determine when to plant marigold by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant marigold until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Culpeper 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 fully mature. Starting your marigold indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Culpeper. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Culpeper is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Culpeper you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your marigold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Culpeper

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 Culpeper

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