One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The first chance to plant garden mums in La Mesa should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

You can plant garden mums a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in La Mesa 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden mums may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your garden mums indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in La Mesa. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for La Mesa is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in La Mesa there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your garden mums if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Mesa

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 La Mesa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Mesa.