One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant santolina is to consult the USDA zone info for Escanaba.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

Frost tolerance for santolina:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Santolina tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Escanaba 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your santolina may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your santolina indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Escanaba. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Escanaba and it is different every year. Half of the time in Escanaba you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your santolina if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Escanaba

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Escanaba

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