One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant strawflowers is to consult the USDA zone info for El Cajon.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

Strawflowers are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in El Cajon. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate 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 there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your strawflowers 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.