When to Plant Coleus in San Diego, CA

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

By checking out the USDA zone info for San Diego you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant coleus.


Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

You should not plant coleus until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant coleus in San Diego 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your coleus 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 January 31 in San Diego. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Diego and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Diego it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your coleus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.