One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant hollyhocks by looking at the USDA zone info for Chico.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

Since hollyhocks do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Chico 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hollyhocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed 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 is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chico and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chico last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your hollyhocks 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.