Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine 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 making a decision about when to plant santolina is to check out the USDA zone info for Cottonwood.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

Frost tolerance for santolina:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Santolina do well in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Cottonwood 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your santolina may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your santolina indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cottonwood is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cottonwood it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your santolina if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cottonwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Cottonwood

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