One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for San Marcos should be looked at to figure out when you can plant calliopsis.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Calliopsis do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In San Marcos 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 Marcos is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Marcos it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your calliopsis if you have one of those late frosts.

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.