One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Santa Clara it's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant tithonia.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

Tithonia require warm weather which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Santa Clara. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Clara may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Santa Clara you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your tithonia in the event of a surprise 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.