One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Santa Maria it's possible to determine when to plant celosia.

Planting Calendar for Celosia

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

You should not plant celosia until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant celosia in Santa Maria 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 celosia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your celosia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your celosia 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 Maria. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Santa Maria is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Maria last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your celosia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Maria

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 Maria

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Maria.