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.

In San Luis Obispo you can estimate when you can plant peonies by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

Frost tolerance for peonies:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Peonies are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in San Luis Obispo 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in San Luis Obispo. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Luis Obispo is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in San Luis Obispo you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your peonies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Luis Obispo

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 Luis Obispo

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