One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant salpiglossis is to check out the USDA zone info for Los Altos.

Planting Calendar for Salpiglossis

Frost tolerance for salpiglossis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Salpiglossis do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant salpiglossis in Los Altos is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant salpiglossis and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your salpiglossis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your salpiglossis indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Los Altos. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Los Altos and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Los Altos last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your salpiglossis in the event of a surprise 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.