One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first opportunity to plant hollyhocks in Salem should be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

Hollyhocks are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Salem. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always 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. Since half of the time in Salem there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

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.