When to Plant Tagetes in Ojai, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when to plant tagetes is to use the USDA zone info for Ojai.


Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

Since tagetes are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant tagetes 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Ojai. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ojai and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ojai you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tagetes in the event of a surprise late frost.

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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.