One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 reviewing the USDA zone info for Avenal you will be able to estimate when to plant cuphea.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant cuphea until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Avenal 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Avenal is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Avenal it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your cuphea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Avenal

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 Avenal

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