When to Plant Verbena in Lake Forest, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Lake Forest it's a good idea to figure out when to plant verbena.


Planting Calendar for Verbena

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

Verbena do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant verbena in Lake Forest 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 verbena and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your verbena may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your verbena indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Forest the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Forest and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your verbena if you have one of those late frosts.

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.