One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant artemesia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Watsonville.

Planting Calendar for Artemesia

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

Artemesia do ok in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant artemesia in Watsonville 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 artemesia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artemesia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your artemesia 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 February 15 in Watsonville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Watsonville is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Watsonville you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your artemesia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watsonville

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 Watsonville

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Watsonville.