When to Plant Lovage in National City, CA

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.

By using the USDA zone info for National City you should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant lovage.


Planting Calendar for Lovage

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

Since lovage are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lovage
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lovage
Probably not a good time to plant lovage

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in National City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for National City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in National City last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your lovage 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 Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°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.