When to Plant Lobelia in Santa Clara, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant lobelia in Santa Clara can be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Lobelia

Frost tolerance for lobelia: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since lobelia are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

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

The last month that you can plant lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lobelia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lobelia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

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 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 it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your lobelia if you have one of those late frosts.

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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.