Hi, Laura!

Marigolds should be planted in the ground after any threat of frost. Call your local Extension office and ask them what the expected last frost date is for the Birmingham area. Then, you may want to give it a few days after that! I'm guessing that it will be somewhere around the middle of April.

Even if you have a few warm days in a row, a sudden frost will zap any newly sprouted seedlings. Marigolds are a little cold hardy but not so much that they can endure real frosts. So heed that frost date....it's a good target.

Hint : garden centers LOVE it when people get the planting bug too early.....they get to sell seeds and plants twice!

If you have a veggie garden, you can plant cold hardy crops like peas, kale, cabbage, etc.

I push the season by ten days by checking the ten-day forecast on weather.com for my area. Our frost-free date is April 15, so I figure if weather.com doesn't forecast frost for ten days before that, I'm home free! ;-)