Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden 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 making a decision about when to plant cuphea is to look at the USDA zone info for Sonoma.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

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

Cuphea require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Sonoma 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your cuphea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Sonoma. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sonoma and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sonoma it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your cuphea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sonoma

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Sonoma

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