One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Orange you can determine when it's a good idea to plant flowering kale by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

Frost tolerance for flowering kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since flowering kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale in Orange is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Orange. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Orange may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Orange there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your flowering kale if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orange

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Orange

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