Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant melampodium in Santa Rosa should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Since melampodium are not cold tolerant it's important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Santa Rosa is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Santa Rosa. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Rosa and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Rosa there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your melampodium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Rosa

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Rosa

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