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

In Los Altos you can figure out when it's the best time to plant purple coneflower by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

Purple Coneflower are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Los Altos 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your purple coneflower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Los Altos. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Los Altos and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Los Altos last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Los Altos

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Los Altos

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Los Altos.