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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Sunnyvale you should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant cleome.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant cleome until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Sunnyvale is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cleome may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Sunnyvale. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Sunnyvale may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sunnyvale last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your cleome if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sunnyvale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sunnyvale

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