The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant forget-me-not is to use the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Forget-Me-Not

Frost tolerance for forget-me-not:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since forget-me-not do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant forget-me-not in Madison is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant forget-me-not and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your forget-me-not may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your forget-me-not indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it is different every year. Half of the time in Madison you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your forget-me-not in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.