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.

The first opportunity to plant zinnia in Salinas can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since zinnia do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your zinnia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salinas you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your zinnia if you have 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.