One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant salvia is to look at the USDA zone info for Charlotte.

Planting Calendar for Salvia

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

Since salvia do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant salvia in Charlotte 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 salvia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your salvia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your salvia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Charlotte is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Charlotte you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your salvia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charlotte

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Charlotte

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