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

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant mimulus is to use the USDA zone info for Montpelier.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

Mimulus do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Montpelier is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your mimulus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Montpelier. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Montpelier is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Montpelier it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your mimulus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Montpelier

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Montpelier

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