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.

You should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant flowering tobacco by reviewing the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Tobacco

Frost tolerance for flowering tobacco:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since flowering tobacco require warm weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco in Santa Cruz 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 flowering tobacco and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering tobacco may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your flowering tobacco indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Cruz the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz and it is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your flowering tobacco 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.