One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for El Paso it's possible to determine when it's a good idea 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 frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in El Paso 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 grow to maturity. Starting your santolina indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in El Paso. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Paso and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in El Paso it frosts late in the year after March 15 so always be ready to cover your santolina if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Paso

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 El Paso

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Paso.