One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Santa Monica can be reffered to in order to figure out when you can plant iresene.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

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

Since iresene are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant iresene 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your iresene may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your iresene indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Monica and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Monica last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your iresene in the event of 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 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.