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 Monica you can determine when to plant hardy asters by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Asters

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

You can plant hardy asters slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Monica is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Santa Monica it frosts late in the year after January 31 so always be ready to cover your hardy asters if you have one of those late frosts.

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 Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°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.