One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant coleus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ojai.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Ojai. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ojai is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ojai it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your coleus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ojai

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 Ojai

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ojai.