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.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant bougainvillea is to use the USDA zone info for Morro Bay.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant bougainvillea until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

In Morro Bay the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Morro Bay may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Morro Bay it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bougainvillea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Morro Bay

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 Morro Bay

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Morro Bay.