One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The first chance to plant monarda in Toppenish can be estimated by looking at 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.

Monarda are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Toppenish 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. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your monarda indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Toppenish is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Toppenish it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your monarda if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Toppenish

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 Toppenish

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