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 Clara you can estimate when it's possible to plant calliopsis by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant calliopsis until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Santa Clara is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your calliopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your calliopsis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Santa Clara. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Clara is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Clara you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your calliopsis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Clara

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Clara

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