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

It's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant tithonia by referring to the USDA zone info for Los Altos.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

Frost tolerance for tithonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant tithonia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Los Altos is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Los Altos it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your tithonia if you have one of those late frosts.

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.