One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant hardy hibiscus is to check out the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant hardy hibiscus a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Ridgecrest 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your hardy hibiscus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Ridgecrest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ridgecrest there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgecrest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ridgecrest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ridgecrest.