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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant perilla is to use the USDA zone info for Santa Fe.

Planting Calendar for Perilla

Frost tolerance for perilla:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You can not plant perilla until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant perilla in Santa Fe 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 perilla and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your perilla may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your perilla indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Santa Fe. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Fe and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Fe there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your perilla in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Fe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Fe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Fe.