When to Plant Calibrachoa in Santa Monica, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant calibrachoa in Santa Monica can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Calibrachoa

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

Since calibrachoa are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant calibrachoa
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant calibrachoa
Probably not a good time to plant calibrachoa

The earliest that you can plant calibrachoa in Santa Monica 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 calibrachoa and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your calibrachoa may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your calibrachoa indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Santa Monica. You can expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Monica and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Monica it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your calibrachoa if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Monica

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Monica

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