One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 estimating when it's possible to plant mimulus is to examine the USDA zone info for San Jose.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

Frost tolerance for mimulus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You can not plant mimulus until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in San Jose is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In San Jose the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for San Jose is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in San Jose you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your mimulus if you have 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.