One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant artemesia is to use the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Artemesia

Frost tolerance for artemesia:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since artemesia do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant artemesia in Madison 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 artemesia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your artemesia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your artemesia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Madison you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your artemesia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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