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.

The first opportunity to plant pincushion flower in Shafter should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pincushion Flower

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

Since pincushion flower are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pincushion flower in Shafter 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 pincushion flower and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pincushion flower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pincushion flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Shafter is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your pincushion flower in the event of 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.