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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant santolina is to consult the USDA zone info for Traverse City.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

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

Since santolina are very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Traverse City 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your santolina may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your santolina indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Traverse City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Traverse City is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Traverse City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your santolina if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.