Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when you can plant diascia is to examine the USDA zone info for El Monte.

Planting Calendar for Diascia

Frost tolerance for diascia:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Diascia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant diascia in El Monte is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant diascia and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your diascia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your diascia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for El Monte may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in El Monte you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your diascia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Monte

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 Monte

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