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.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant iberis is to look at the USDA zone info for Chico.

Planting Calendar for Iberis

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

Since iberis are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant iberis 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 iberis and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your iberis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your iberis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Chico the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Chico is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chico you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your iberis 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.