When to Plant Decorative Kale in Lake Forest, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant decorative kale in Lake Forest can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

Decorative Kale are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Lake Forest 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your decorative kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Lake Forest. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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 Lake Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Forest.