One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when you can plant calliopsis by reviewing the USDA zone info for Shafter.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis 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 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your calliopsis 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.

Since the USDA zone info for Shafter is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your calliopsis if you have a late frost.

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.