Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers by referring to the USDA zone info for Elsa.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Elsa. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elsa is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elsa you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sunflowers 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.