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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Shafter you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant mecardonia.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

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

Mecardonia are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your mecardonia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Shafter. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Shafter is just an average 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 be sure to be ready to protect your mecardonia if you have 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.