One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant common hollyhock by reviewing the USDA zone info for San Jose.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

Since common hollyhock 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 other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in San Jose 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your common hollyhock may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your common hollyhock indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in San Jose. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Jose and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Jose last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your common hollyhock in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Jose

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 San Jose

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