One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant arctotis by referring to the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

Frost tolerance for arctotis:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant arctotis just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Rancho Santa Margarita is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your arctotis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Rancho Santa Margarita. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your arctotis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rancho Santa Margarita

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 Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°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 Rancho Santa Margarita

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rancho Santa Margarita.