One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Santa Cruz should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

Frost tolerance for doronicum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant doronicum a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum 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 doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your doronicum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your doronicum indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Cruz is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your doronicum in the event of 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.