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.

In Elkins you can figure out when it's the best time to plant santolina by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

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

Since santolina are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Elkins 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your santolina may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your santolina indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Elkins is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elkins you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your santolina if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elkins

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Elkins

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