One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant gladiolus is to check out the USDA zone info for Martinez.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

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

Gladiolus do well in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in Martinez 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 gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gladiolus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gladiolus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Martinez. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Martinez and it is different every year. Half of the time in Martinez it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gladiolus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Martinez

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 Martinez

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Martinez.