One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant rosemary is to consult the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

Planting Calendar for Rosemary

Frost tolerance for rosemary:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant rosemary earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

The last month that you can plant rosemary and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your rosemary may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Santa Cruz. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your rosemary 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.