When to Plant Sunflowers in Zone 10a

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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant sunflowers is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 10a.

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Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sunflowers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sunflowers
Probably not a good time to plant sunflowers

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Zone 10a 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Zone 10a. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 10a and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 10a you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 10a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 10a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 10a.