The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant strawflowers is to consult the USDA zone info for Portola Valley.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

You can plant strawflowers just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Portola Valley 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Portola Valley the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portola Valley and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Portola Valley last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your strawflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

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.