One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant mimulus by using the USDA zone info for National City.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant mimulus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for National City is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in National City it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your mimulus in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.