One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Orange you can estimate when it's the best time to plant tagetes by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

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

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Orange 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tagetes 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 Orange. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Orange is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Orange there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your tagetes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orange

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Orange

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