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

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant geranium is to check out the USDA zone info for Elsa.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

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

You should not plant geranium until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Elsa 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your geranium indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elsa the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Elsa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Elsa you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your geranium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elsa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Elsa

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