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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Fresno it's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Fresno 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. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Fresno. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fresno is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Fresno last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fresno

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 Fresno

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