Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant mecardonia in Santa Cruz can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

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

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

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your mecardonia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on 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 the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your mecardonia 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.