The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant creeping phlox by using the USDA zone info for Palo Alto.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

Frost tolerance for creeping phlox:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Creeping Phlox are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in Palo Alto is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your creeping phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your creeping phlox indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Palo Alto the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Palo Alto is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Palo Alto there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your creeping phlox in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

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 Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.