When to Plant Delphinium in Lafayette, CA

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 Lafayette you can figure out when you can plant delphinium by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Delphinium

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

Since delphinium are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant delphinium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant delphinium
Probably not a good time to plant delphinium

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Lafayette 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 delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your delphinium indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Lafayette. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lafayette is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lafayette last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your delphinium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lafayette

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Lafayette

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