The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In El Cajon you can determine when it's the best time to plant gaillardia by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

Frost tolerance for gaillardia:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant gaillardia just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Cajon and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in El Cajon you get a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your gaillardia in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.