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

You can determine when it's possible to plant scabiosa in Santa Cruz by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Scabiosa

Frost tolerance for scabiosa:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Scabiosa do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant scabiosa 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 scabiosa and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your scabiosa may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your scabiosa indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few 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.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your scabiosa if you have a surprise 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.