One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Shafter you can figure out when it's possible to plant bachelor buttons by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bachelor Buttons

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

Since bachelor buttons are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bachelor buttons in Shafter 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 bachelor buttons and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bachelor buttons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your bachelor buttons 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 Shafter. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Shafter is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bachelor buttons in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shafter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Shafter

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