When to Plant Sunflowers in Fort Bragg, CA

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

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers is to refer to the USDA zone info for Fort Bragg.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers require warm weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sunflowers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sunflowers
Probably not a good time to plant sunflowers

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Fort Bragg 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Fort Bragg the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fort Bragg and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Bragg there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Bragg

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Fort Bragg

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Bragg.