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

In Santa Maria you can determine when it's a good idea to plant painted tongues by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You should not plant painted tongues until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Santa Maria. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Maria is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Santa Maria you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your painted tongues if you have a late frost.

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.