When to Plant Lantana in Santa Barbara, CA

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

The USDA zone info for Santa Barbara can be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant lantana.


Planting Calendar for Lantana

Frost tolerance for lantana: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Since lantana require warm weather it is important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant lantana 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 lantana and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lantana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lantana indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Barbara the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your lantana 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.