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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant lemon grass is to look at the USDA zone info for Imperial.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

Frost tolerance for lemon grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lemon grass do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Imperial is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Imperial you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your lemon grass if you have one of those late frosts.

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.