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 Carlsbad you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant snapdragons by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Snapdragons

Frost tolerance for snapdragons:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Snapdragons are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant snapdragons in Carlsbad 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 snapdragons and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your snapdragons may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your snapdragons indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Carlsbad. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carlsbad is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carlsbad you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your snapdragons if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carlsbad

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Carlsbad

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