When to Plant Oregano in Palo Alto, CA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Palo Alto it's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant oregano.


Planting Calendar for Oregano

Frost tolerance for oregano: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since oregano are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant oregano 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 oregano and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oregano may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oregano indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Palo Alto the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Palo Alto is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Palo Alto last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your oregano in the event of a 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.