When to Plant Sweet Williams in Downey, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Downey can be looked at to figure out when you can plant sweet williams.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

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

Sweet Williams are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet williams
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet williams
Probably not a good time to plant sweet williams

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in Downey 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 sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your sweet williams may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet williams indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Downey. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Downey and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Downey there is a last frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your sweet williams if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Downey

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Downey

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