The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant phlox is to examine the USDA zone info for Hercules.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

Phlox do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in Hercules 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Hercules is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hercules there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your phlox in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hercules

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 Hercules

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