Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant salvia is to consult the USDA zone info for Fort Dodge.

Planting Calendar for Salvia

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

Salvia do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant salvia in Fort Dodge 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 salvia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your salvia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your salvia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Fort Dodge the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Fort Dodge is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Dodge you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your salvia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Dodge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Dodge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Dodge.