When to Plant Sunflowers in Calistoga, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when you can plant sunflowers by reviewing the USDA zone info for Calistoga.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Calistoga 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Calistoga. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Calistoga and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Calistoga last frost occurs after February 15 so always be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Calistoga

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low20°F
Highest Expected Low25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Calistoga

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