One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 San Marcos you can figure out when it's possible to plant coreopsis by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

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

Coreopsis are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant coreopsis in San Marcos 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 coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your coreopsis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your coreopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Marcos the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Marcos and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Marcos last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your coreopsis in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Marcos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in San Marcos

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Marcos.