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.

A way of estimating when you can plant verbena is to examine the USDA zone info for Portola Valley.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

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

Verbena do well in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant verbena 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 verbena and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your verbena may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your verbena indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Portola Valley the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Portola Valley is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Portola Valley last frost occurs after January 31 so always be ready to cover your verbena 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.