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.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Chico can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since geranium are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Chico 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your geranium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Chico. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chico and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chico last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your geranium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chico

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 Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 Chico

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