One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Santa Barbara you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant purple bell vines by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Bell Vines

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

You can plant purple bell vines slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple bell vines 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 purple bell vines and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple bell vines may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your purple bell vines indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Barbara the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Santa Barbara you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your purple bell vines if you have one of those late frosts.

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.