When to Plant Peonies in Los Angeles, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Los Angeles should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant peonies.


Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

You can plant peonies slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant peonies 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Los Angeles. 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 an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Los Angeles last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your peonies if you have 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 Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°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.