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.

A common way of determining when you can plant red hot pokers is to check out the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red Hot Pokers can survive in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Ridgecrest. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ridgecrest you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your red hot pokers in the event of a surprise 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.