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

The best time to plant petunias in Palm Desert should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Palm Desert 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your petunias indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Palm Desert is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Palm Desert it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your petunias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palm Desert

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 Palm Desert

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palm Desert.