Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when to plant phlox is to check out the USDA zone info for Arcata.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

You can plant phlox just a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Arcata is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Arcata last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your phlox 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.