The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening 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 determine when to plant mimulus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

Since mimulus are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your mimulus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merced and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Merced it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your mimulus if you have a surprise late frost.

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.