When to Plant Delphinium in Sacramento, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant delphinium by looking at the USDA zone info for Sacramento.


Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Delphinium do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant delphinium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant delphinium
Probably not a good time to plant delphinium

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Sacramento 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 delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your delphinium indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Sacramento. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Sacramento may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sacramento it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your delphinium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sacramento

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Sacramento

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