When to Plant Gomphrena in Palo Alto, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of figuring out when to plant gomphrena is to examine the USDA zone info for Palo Alto.


Planting Calendar for Gomphrena

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

Gomphrena can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant gomphrena in Palo Alto 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 gomphrena and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gomphrena may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gomphrena 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. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Palo Alto and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Palo Alto there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gomphrena 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 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 Palo Alto

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