Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale in Sonoma by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

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

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Sonoma 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your decorative kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sonoma is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sonoma last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your decorative kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.