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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant chrysanthemum is to consult the USDA zone info for El Cajon.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemum

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

It's a bad idea to plant chrysanthemum until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in El Cajon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for El Cajon is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in El Cajon you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your chrysanthemum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Cajon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in El Cajon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Cajon.