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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Los Angeles it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant pentas.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant pentas until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Los Angeles 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pentas may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Los Angeles the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Los Angeles is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Los Angeles there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your pentas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Los Angeles

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Los Angeles

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