One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant petunias is to refer to the USDA zone info for South Gate.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since petunias are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in South Gate 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in South Gate. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for South Gate is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in South Gate you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your petunias in the event of a late frost.

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.