One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant cardinal flower in Santa Clara by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since cardinal flower are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Clara. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Clara is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Clara it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cardinal flower if you have a surprise 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.