Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant petunias in Rancho Santa Margarita by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Rancho Santa Margarita. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita there is a last frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your petunias if you have a 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.