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.

The first chance to plant chinese celery in Orinda should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese celery

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

Since chinese celery do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Orinda the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Orinda is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Orinda you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your chinese celery if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orinda

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 Orinda

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