One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Sunnyvale you can estimate when it's the best time to plant sunflowers by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Sunnyvale 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your sunflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Sunnyvale. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sunnyvale and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sunnyvale you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sunnyvale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sunnyvale

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