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 common way of determining when it's the best time to plant painted tongues is to refer to the USDA zone info for Salida.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant painted tongues until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Salida 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your painted tongues indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Salida the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Salida is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Salida you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your painted tongues in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salida

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Salida

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