One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 salvia in West Des Moines should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

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 tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant salvia in West Des Moines 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. Any later than that and your salvia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your salvia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in West Des Moines. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Des Moines and it is different every year. Since half of the time in West Des Moines it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your salvia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Des Moines

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 West Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Des Moines.