When to Plant Celosia in Salem, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when to plant celosia by looking at the USDA zone info for Salem.


Planting Calendar for Celosia

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

Since celosia require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant celosia
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant celosia
Probably not a good time to plant celosia

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Salem. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Salem is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Salem it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your celosia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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