One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant dallas fern is to examine the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita.

Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You can not plant dallas fern until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Rancho Santa Margarita 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your dallas fern may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your dallas fern indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rancho Santa Margarita 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.

Since the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your dallas fern in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rancho Santa Margarita

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 Rancho Santa Margarita

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