One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant decorative kale is to use the USDA zone info for Portola Valley.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

Frost tolerance for decorative kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since decorative kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Portola Valley is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Portola Valley. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portola Valley and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Portola Valley you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your decorative kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portola Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Portola Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Portola Valley.