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.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant marigold is to look at the USDA zone info for Luray.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant marigold until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Luray 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your marigold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Luray the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Luray is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Luray it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your marigold in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Luray

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Luray

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