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 Martinez you can determine when it's the best time to plant balloon flower by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

Frost tolerance for balloon flower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Balloon Flower do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Martinez 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 balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your balloon flower indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Martinez. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Martinez is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Martinez you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your balloon flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Martinez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

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

Plants to Grow in Martinez

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Martinez.