Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant delphinium in Santa Cruz can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since delphinium are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your delphinium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your delphinium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Santa Cruz. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz 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 Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your delphinium if you have a surprise 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.