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.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Los Gatos should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Los Gatos. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Los Gatos may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Los Gatos you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your echinacea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Los Gatos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Los Gatos

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