The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Rancho Santa Margarita you can determine when to plant monarda by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

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

Monarda do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant monarda in Rancho Santa Margarita 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your monarda may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Rancho Santa Margarita. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your monarda in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.