When to Plant Tarragon in Santa Barbara, CA

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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara it's possible to estimate when to plant tarragon.


Planting Calendar for Tarragon

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

Tarragon are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Santa Barbara you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your tarragon 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 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.