One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for San Marcos can be looked at to estimate when to plant achimenes.

Planting Calendar for Achimenes

Frost tolerance for achimenes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant achimenes until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant achimenes in San Marcos 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 achimenes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your achimenes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your achimenes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in San Marcos. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Marcos and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in San Marcos you get a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your achimenes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Marcos

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 Marcos

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