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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for San Luis it's a good idea to estimate when to plant pentas.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pentas until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in San Luis 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Luis. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for San Luis is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Luis there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your pentas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Luis

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Luis

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