One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for El Centro it's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant verbena.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

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

Verbena do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant verbena 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 verbena and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your verbena may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your verbena indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in El Centro. 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 just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in El Centro last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your verbena in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.