One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Ridgecrest you can figure out when to plant hollyhocks by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

Frost tolerance for hollyhocks:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since hollyhocks are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Ridgecrest. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ridgecrest it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your hollyhocks in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.