Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Merced you can estimate when to plant four-o-clock flower by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Four-o-clock flower

Frost tolerance for four-o-clock flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since four-o-clock flower do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant four-o-clock flower in Merced 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 four-o-clock flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your four-o-clock flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your four-o-clock flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Merced. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merced and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Merced you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your four-o-clock flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

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 Merced

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