One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant tropical water plants in Costa Mesa can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Water Plants

Frost tolerance for tropical water plants:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant tropical water plants until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tropical water plants in Costa Mesa 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 tropical water plants and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tropical water plants may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your tropical water plants indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Costa Mesa. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Costa Mesa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Costa Mesa it frosts late in the year after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your tropical water plants if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Costa Mesa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Costa Mesa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Costa Mesa.