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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant salsify is to check out the USDA zone info for Iola.

Planting Calendar for Salsify

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

Since salsify are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant salsify in Iola 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 salsify and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your salsify may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your salsify indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Iola. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Iola and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Iola you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your salsify if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Iola

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Iola

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