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 determining when it's possible to plant tropical hibiscus is to consult the USDA zone info for San Diego.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

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

Since tropical hibiscus are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus 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 tropical hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tropical hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your tropical hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In San Diego the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You can expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for San Diego is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in San Diego it frosts late in the year after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your tropical hibiscus 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 Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°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.