When to Plant Cardinal Flower in Sierra Madre, CA

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

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Sierra Madre should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

It's not a good idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant cardinal flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant cardinal flower
Probably not a good time to plant cardinal flower

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Sierra Madre 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cardinal flower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your cardinal flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Sierra Madre. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sierra Madre and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sierra Madre it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cardinal flower if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sierra Madre

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 Sierra Madre

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sierra Madre.