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 can determine when it's the best time to plant tagetes in Santa Barbara by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant tagetes until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your tagetes indoors is a great way to get them started 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.

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 there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your tagetes in the event of 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.