One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for California can be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant fuchsia.

Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

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

Fuchsia require warm weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant fuchsia 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 fuchsia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fuchsia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your fuchsia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in California. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for California is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in California there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your fuchsia 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.