One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Capitola you can estimate when it's the best time to plant chrysanthemums by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemums

Frost tolerance for chrysanthemums:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since chrysanthemums are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Capitola. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Capitola is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Capitola it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your chrysanthemums in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Capitola

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Capitola

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