When to Plant Ornamental Grasses in San Mateo, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 estimate when you can plant ornamental grasses in San Mateo by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

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

Ornamental Grasses are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in San Mateo 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 ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your ornamental grasses indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In San Mateo the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for San Mateo may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in San Mateo you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your ornamental grasses if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Mateo

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 Mateo

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