The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Salem you can figure out when it's possible to plant echinacea by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea 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 echinacea in Salem 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 echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Salem you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a late frost.

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.