One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant achimenes is to consult the USDA zone info for Colton.

Planting Calendar for Achimenes

Frost tolerance for achimenes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant achimenes until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Colton. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Colton and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Colton you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your achimenes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Colton

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 Colton

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