One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Salem you can determine when to plant sweet williams by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

Frost tolerance for sweet williams:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet williams do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in Salem is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your sweet williams may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sweet williams indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Salem. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salem it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your sweet williams 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.