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.

The USDA zone info for Santa Monica should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's possible to plant monarda.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

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

Since monarda are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant monarda 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 monarda and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your monarda may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your monarda indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Santa Monica the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

It's important 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Monica there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your monarda in the event of 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.