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 way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant salsify is to look at the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake.

Planting Calendar for Salsify

Frost tolerance for salsify:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Salsify do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant salsify in Big Bear Lake 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 salsify and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your salsify may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your salsify indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Big Bear Lake. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Big Bear Lake last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your salsify in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Bear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Bear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Bear Lake.