Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant matricaria is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 4a.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

Frost tolerance for matricaria:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since matricaria are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Zone 4a 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your matricaria indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 4a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 4a and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 4a it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your matricaria if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 4a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 4a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 4a.