One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 it's the best time to plant calliopsis is to examine the USDA zone info for Fairfax.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since calliopsis do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Fairfax is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Fairfax. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Fairfax is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairfax you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your calliopsis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfax

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fairfax.