One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant lavender is to check out the USDA zone info for Sacramento.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

You can plant lavender just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Sacramento 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 lavender and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lavender indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sacramento is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sacramento it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your lavender 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 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 Sacramento

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