One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 can determine when to plant iresene in Santa Cruz by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

Frost tolerance for iresene:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Iresene do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant iresene 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your iresene may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your iresene indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your iresene in the event of a 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.