The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant garden mums is to examine the USDA zone info for Banning.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

Since garden mums do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Banning 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Banning. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Banning and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Banning it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garden mums if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Banning

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 Banning

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