One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 you can plant fuchsia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Berkeley.

Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

Frost tolerance for fuchsia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant fuchsia until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant fuchsia in Berkeley 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 fuchsia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your fuchsia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your fuchsia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Berkeley. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Berkeley is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Berkeley last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your fuchsia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Berkeley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Berkeley

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