One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Palo Alto it's a good idea to determine when to plant pansies.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pansies 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pansies indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Palo Alto is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Palo Alto you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your pansies in the event of 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 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.