Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant pennisetum is to examine the USDA zone info for Antioch.

Planting Calendar for Pennisetum

Frost tolerance for pennisetum:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since pennisetum are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Antioch 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 pennisetum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your pennisetum indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Antioch. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Antioch is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Antioch last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your pennisetum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Antioch

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 Antioch

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