One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Surprise you can estimate when it's the best time to plant borage by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Since borage are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Surprise 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Surprise the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Surprise is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Surprise it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to cover your borage in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Surprise

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 Surprise

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