One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant flax by using the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Flax do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant flax 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your flax in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.