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.

You should be able to determine when to plant violas by checking out the USDA zone info for West Salem.

Planting Calendar for Violas

Frost tolerance for violas:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant violas a lot earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant violas in West Salem 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your violas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your violas indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In West Salem the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for West Salem is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in West Salem there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your violas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in West Salem

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Salem.