One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 torenia in Santa Monica can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Torenia

Frost tolerance for torenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since torenia are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant torenia 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 torenia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your torenia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your torenia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Santa Monica. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Monica is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Monica last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your torenia if you have a 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.