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.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in Ridgecrest should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant tithonia until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in Ridgecrest is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tithonia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them 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 is different every year. Half of the time in Ridgecrest it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your tithonia 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.