One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Ridgecrest should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant matricaria.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria tend to make it in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Ridgecrest 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ridgecrest the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ridgecrest is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ridgecrest last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your matricaria in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgecrest

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 Ridgecrest

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