When to Plant Nasturtium in Palo Alto, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

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


Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Since nasturtium do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in Palo Alto is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nasturtium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your nasturtium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Palo Alto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Palo Alto is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Palo Alto you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your nasturtium if you have one of those late frosts.

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.