One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You should be able to determine when you can plant zinnia by looking at the USDA zone info for South Lake Tahoe.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant zinnia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in South Lake Tahoe is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in South Lake Tahoe. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

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 South Lake Tahoe and it is different every year. Half of the time in South Lake Tahoe you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your zinnia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Lake Tahoe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in South Lake Tahoe

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