The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant alternanthera is to use the USDA zone info for Shafter.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

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

It's not a good idea to plant alternanthera until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Shafter is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your alternanthera may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alternanthera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Shafter. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Shafter 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 Shafter last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your alternanthera in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shafter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Shafter

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Shafter.