One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The first chance to plant matricaria in Portola Valley can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Portola Valley 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Portola Valley. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portola Valley is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portola Valley it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your matricaria in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portola Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Portola Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Portola Valley.