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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant creeping phlox is to refer to the USDA zone info for El Mirage.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

Frost tolerance for creeping phlox:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since creeping phlox do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in El Mirage 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 creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your creeping phlox may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your creeping phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

In El Mirage the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Mirage and it is different every year. Half of the time in El Mirage there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your creeping phlox if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Mirage

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 El Mirage

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Mirage.