One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant zinnia by reviewing the USDA zone info for Los Banos.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

You can not plant zinnia until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Los Banos is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Los Banos you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your zinnia if you have one of those late frosts.

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.