One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Salinas should be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant alternanthera.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

Frost tolerance for alternanthera:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since alternanthera do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Salinas 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 alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alternanthera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your alternanthera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Salinas. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Salinas is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Salinas it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your alternanthera in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salinas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Salinas

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Salinas.