One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Atherton you can figure out when it's the best time to plant pentas by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

Pentas require warm weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Atherton is March. However, you really should wait until April 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. If you wait any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pentas indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Atherton. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atherton and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Atherton last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your pentas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atherton

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 Atherton

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