One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 lavender is to look at the USDA zone info for Gilroy.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

Since lavender are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Gilroy 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 lavender and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lavender indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Gilroy. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Gilroy is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Gilroy you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your lavender if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gilroy

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 Gilroy

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