When to Plant Cosmos in Salamanca, NY

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 Salamanca you can figure out when it's the best time to plant cosmos by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Salamanca 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cosmos may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cosmos indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Salamanca. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salamanca is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salamanca last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cosmos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salamanca

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Salamanca

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