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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant armeria is to use the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

Planting Calendar for Armeria

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

Armeria do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant armeria in Santa Cruz 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 armeria and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your armeria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your armeria indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your armeria in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Cruz

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 Cruz

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