When to Plant Peonies in Bakersfield, CA

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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Bakersfield you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant peonies.


Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

Peonies can survive in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant peonies
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant peonies
Probably not a good time to plant peonies

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Bakersfield 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your peonies indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Bakersfield. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bakersfield is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Bakersfield last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your peonies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bakersfield

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Bakersfield

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