When to Plant Peonies in Santa Paula, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 peonies in Santa Paula can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

You can plant peonies a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Santa Paula 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your peonies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Santa Paula. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Paula is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Paula there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your peonies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Paula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Paula

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