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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant marigold is to check out the USDA zone info for Beaver Dam.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

Since marigold require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Beaver Dam 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. Any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your marigold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Beaver Dam. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Beaver Dam is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Beaver Dam it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your marigold in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Beaver Dam

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Beaver Dam

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Beaver Dam.