One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for South Gate can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant centaurea.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Since centaurea are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in South Gate 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your centaurea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your centaurea indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in South Gate. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South Gate is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Gate it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your centaurea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Gate

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in South Gate

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Gate.