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frostdate name logo in white

When to Plant Gaillardia in San Diego, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia is to consult the USDA zone info for San Diego.


Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gaillardia 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 January 31 in San Diego. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind 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 San Diego and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Diego you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your gaillardia in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.