The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate 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 marigold in Santa Clara can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant marigold until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant marigold 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your marigold indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Clara may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Clara there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your marigold in the event of 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.