When to Plant Nasturtium in California, PA

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.

The first chance to plant nasturtium in California can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

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

Nasturtium do not do well in cold 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant nasturtium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant nasturtium
Probably not a good time to plant nasturtium

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium 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 nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nasturtium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your nasturtium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in California. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for California and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in California it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your nasturtium if you have one of those late frosts.

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 Low0°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.