The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when to plant cardinal flower by using the USDA zone info for Los Banos.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Los Banos 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Los Banos. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Los Banos is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Los Banos last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cardinal flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Los Banos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Los Banos

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