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.

The first chance to plant lunaria in Salem should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lunaria

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

Lunaria are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lunaria 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 lunaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lunaria may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lunaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Salem. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Salem is an average the actual date of last frost will vary 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 protect your lunaria in the event of a surprise 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.