One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Ripon you can estimate when it's the best time to plant borage by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage tend to make it in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Ripon is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant borage and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Ripon. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripon and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ripon you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your borage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripon

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