When to Plant Phlox in San Marcos, CA

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.

You can determine when it's possible to plant phlox in San Marcos by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

Phlox are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant phlox
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant phlox
Probably not a good time to plant phlox

The earliest that you can plant phlox in San Marcos 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Marcos the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for San Marcos may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Marcos you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your phlox in the event of 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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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.