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

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant aubrieta is to examine the USDA zone info for San Francisco.

Planting Calendar for Aubrieta

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

Since aubrieta are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant aubrieta in San Francisco 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 aubrieta and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your aubrieta may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your aubrieta 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 Francisco. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Francisco and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Francisco last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your aubrieta in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Francisco

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 Francisco

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