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.

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

Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since nasturtium are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Zone 9a. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 9a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 9a there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your nasturtium in the event of a late frost.

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.