When to Plant Tarragon in Salem, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant tarragon in Salem by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Tarragon

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

Tarragon are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant tarragon 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 tarragon and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tarragon may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your tarragon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Salem the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tarragon 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.