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.

In Imperial you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant coleus by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

You really shouldn't plant coleus until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The last month that you can plant coleus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your coleus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Imperial. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Imperial is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Imperial you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your coleus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Imperial

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Imperial

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