Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant gazania by checking out the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

You can plant gazania a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant gazania 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 gazania and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your gazania may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gazania indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Santa Barbara. 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 is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara and it is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gazania in the event of a 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 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 Barbara

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