When to Plant Salsify in Ephrata, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant salsify is to look at the USDA zone info for Ephrata.


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.

Salsify are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant salsify in Ephrata 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. Any later than that and your salsify may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your salsify indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ephrata the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ephrata may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ephrata you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your salsify if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ephrata

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 Low0°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 Ephrata

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