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.

You can determine when you can plant zinnia in Downey by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant zinnia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Downey is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Downey the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Downey and it changes 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 zinnia in the event of 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 Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°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.