One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for California can be reffered to in order to determine when it's a good idea to plant caladium.

Planting Calendar for Caladium

Frost tolerance for caladium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Caladium do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant caladium in California 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 caladium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your caladium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your caladium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In California the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for California is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in California it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your caladium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for California

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in California

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