One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

You will be able to estimate when to plant chives by looking at the USDA zone info for Santa Ana.

Planting Calendar for Chives

Frost tolerance for chives:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since chives are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Ana is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Ana it frosts late in the year after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your chives if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Ana

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 Santa Ana

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