One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 earliest that you can plant lupine in Walnut Creek can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

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

Since lupine are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lupine in Walnut Creek 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 lupine and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your lupine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lupine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Walnut Creek. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Walnut Creek and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Walnut Creek it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your lupine in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Walnut Creek

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 Walnut Creek

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Walnut Creek.