One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant osteospermum by referring to the USDA zone info for El Mirage.

Planting Calendar for Osteospermum

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

Osteospermum do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant osteospermum 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 osteospermum and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your osteospermum may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your osteospermum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in El Mirage. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for El Mirage is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in El Mirage you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your osteospermum in the event of 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.