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.

In Petal you can figure out when it's possible to plant santolina by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

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

Since santolina do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Petal 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 fully mature. If you are starting your santolina indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Petal. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Petal may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petal last frost occurs after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your santolina in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Petal

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