One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant firebush is to refer to the USDA zone info for El Centro.

Planting Calendar for Firebush

Frost tolerance for firebush:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant firebush until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant firebush in El Centro 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 firebush and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your firebush may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your firebush indoors.

Last Frost Date

In El Centro the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for El Centro is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in El Centro there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your firebush in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Centro

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 Centro

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