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

One way of determining when it's possible to plant rudbeckia is to look at the USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Since rudbeckia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather 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 rudbeckia 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Rancho Santa Margarita. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rancho Santa Margarita is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rancho Santa Margarita you get a frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your rudbeckia 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.