When to Plant Roses in Los Angeles, CA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant roses is to examine the USDA zone info for Los Angeles.


Planting Calendar for Roses

Frost tolerance for roses: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since roses are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant roses in Los Angeles is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant roses and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your roses may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your roses indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Los Angeles the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Los Angeles and it is different every year. Half of the time in Los Angeles you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your roses if you have a late frost.

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.