The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Arcata you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant bleeding hearts by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

Frost tolerance for bleeding hearts:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant bleeding hearts just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Arcata 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 bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bleeding hearts indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Arcata. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Arcata may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Arcata last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your bleeding hearts if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Arcata

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 Arcata

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