One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant mimulus is to look at the USDA zone info for Gonzales.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

You should not plant mimulus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Gonzales 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your mimulus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Gonzales the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Gonzales is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Gonzales last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your mimulus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gonzales

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Gonzales

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