When to Plant Geranium in Santa Cruz, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Santa Cruz should be looked at to estimate when you can plant geranium.


Planting Calendar for Geranium

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

Geranium do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant geranium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant geranium
Probably not a good time to plant geranium

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Cruz. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Cruz is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your geranium if you have 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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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.