One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia by checking out the USDA zone info for San Juan Capistrano.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In San Juan Capistrano the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Juan Capistrano is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in San Juan Capistrano it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your rudbeckia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Juan Capistrano

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Juan Capistrano

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