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.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant scarlet runner beans is to check out the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

Planting Calendar for Scarlet Runner Beans

Frost tolerance for scarlet runner beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Scarlet Runner Beans are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

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

It's important 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Cruz last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your scarlet runner beans in the event of 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.