One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Rochester should be reviewed to estimate when it's the best time to plant santolina.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

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

Santolina do well in cold which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Rochester 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your santolina may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your santolina indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rochester the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rochester you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your santolina in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Rochester

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