When to Plant Tropical Hibiscus in Rancho Mirage, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant tropical hibiscus by using the USDA zone info for Rancho Mirage.


Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for tropical hibiscus: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Tropical Hibiscus are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus in Rancho Mirage is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tropical hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tropical hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your tropical hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rancho Mirage the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rancho Mirage and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rancho Mirage you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your tropical hibiscus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rancho Mirage

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 Rancho Mirage

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rancho Mirage.