The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Santa Cruz can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant purple coneflower.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

Frost tolerance for purple coneflower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Purple Coneflower are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Santa Cruz is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your purple coneflower indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

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. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower 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 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.