The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant cleome is to refer to the USDA zone info for Santa Clara.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You really shouldn't plant cleome until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Santa Clara is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Santa Clara. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Clara is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Clara you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cleome if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Clara

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 Santa Clara

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