One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant cuphea by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ripon.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cuphea until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cuphea may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cuphea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Ripon. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripon and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ripon there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your cuphea if you have one of those late frosts.

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.