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.

A way of getting a good idea when to plant zinnia is to check out the USDA zone info for Capitola.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

Zinnia require warm weather which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Capitola is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Capitola you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your zinnia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Capitola

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 Capitola

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