One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant celosia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Zone 9a.

Planting Calendar for Celosia

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant celosia until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant celosia in Zone 9a 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 celosia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your celosia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your celosia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Zone 9a. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 9a and it is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 9a you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your celosia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 9a

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 Zone 9a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 9a.