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.

The first chance to plant saxifraga in Santa Cruz can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Saxifraga

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

Saxifraga tend to make it in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant saxifraga 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 saxifraga and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your saxifraga may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your saxifraga indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your saxifraga if you have 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.