One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

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

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 one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Austin 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 really do well. Starting your santolina indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Austin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Austin is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Austin it frosts late in the year after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your santolina in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

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 Austin

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