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.

By using the USDA zone info for National City it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant canna.

Planting Calendar for Canna

Frost tolerance for canna:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You should not plant canna until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant canna in National City 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 canna and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your canna may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your canna 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 January 31 in National City. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for National City and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in National City you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your canna in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for National City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in National City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for National City.