Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Cupertino you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

You can plant decorative kale just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Cupertino 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Cupertino. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cupertino is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cupertino it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your decorative kale in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cupertino

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 Cupertino

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