One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when to plant marigold is to use the USDA zone info for Pasadena.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Pasadena. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pasadena is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Pasadena there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your marigold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pasadena

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 Pasadena

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