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.

In Tustin you can estimate when it's possible to plant heliotrope by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You really shouldn't plant heliotrope until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Tustin 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your heliotrope may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your heliotrope indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Tustin. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tustin is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Tustin last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your heliotrope if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tustin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Tustin

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