The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 petunias in Carlsbad should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Carlsbad is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your petunias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Carlsbad. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Carlsbad is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carlsbad last frost occurs after March 15 so always be ready to protect your petunias if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carlsbad

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Carlsbad

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