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When to Plant Delphinium in Santa Barbara, CA

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.

The best time to plant delphinium in Santa Barbara should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Delphinium

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

You can plant delphinium slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant delphinium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant delphinium
Probably not a good time to plant delphinium

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Santa Barbara 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 delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your delphinium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your delphinium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Santa Barbara. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your delphinium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Barbara

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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 Barbara

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