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When to plant Marigold

Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.

Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.

Representative timing, by climate band

When to plant Marigold in four US climates

Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.

Stage Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY 		Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN 		Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL 		Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL
Start seed indoors Mar 25–Apr 8 Feb 24–Mar 10 Jan 13–Jan 27 –
Direct-sow outside May 6–May 13 Apr 7–Apr 14 Feb 24–Mar 3 –
Transplant outside May 6–May 13 Apr 7–Apr 14 Feb 24–Mar 3 –
Fall planting Not available Not available Not available –
Expected harvest Not available Not available Not available –

Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a tender crop. In climates like this one, tender and very-tender crops typically go in before the hottest months arrive, not on a frost-relative schedule.

Marigold is a tender annual. Clemson Cooperative Extension's dedicated Marigold factsheet (HGIC 1168) and Iowa State University Extension's marigold FAQ both hold that it goes into the ground, by seed or by transplant, only after frost danger has passed.

The indoor-sowing window on this page, four to six weeks before your planting date, blends two separately stated figures: Clemson's "4 to 6 weeks before desired planting time" and Iowa State's "6 weeks prior to last frost date," rather than picking one and dropping the other.

Clemson also states 70 to 75°F, but that figure is for starting seed indoors, not for direct-sow soil temperature outdoors, so it isn't reused as this page's outdoor minimum-soil-temperature field; that field is blank rather than borrowing a number from the wrong context. Neither source gives a first-bloom day count either, only 5 to 7 days to germination, so days-to-maturity is blank too.

Marigold is sold both as seed and as flowering nursery flats; either is a normal way to buy it.

Frost hardiness

Tender. Damaged or killed by frost. Plant after the last frost date.

Sourcing notes

Tender annual (Clemson HGIC 1168 + ISU FAQ both: plant/direct-sow only after frost danger passes). Indoor start range blends Clemson's "4 to 6 weeks before desired planting time" with ISU's separately-sourced "6 weeks prior to last frost date." No extension source gave a first-bloom day count (only 5-7 day germination), so days_to_maturity left blank. No outdoor soil-temp figure sourced (Clemson's 70-75F is for INDOOR starting, not direct-sow soil temp), so min_soil_temp_f left blank rather than reused.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources