Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant cosmos is to refer to the USDA zone info for Long Beach.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Long Beach. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Long Beach is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Long Beach you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your cosmos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Long Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Long Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Long Beach.