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.

In Zone 7b you can estimate when it's possible to plant melampodium by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably not a good idea to plant melampodium until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Zone 7b 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Zone 7b. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 7b is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 7b you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 7b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 7b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 7b.