One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant fountain grass by looking at the USDA zone info for Roanoke.

Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

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

Since fountain grass do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Roanoke 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 fountain grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your fountain grass may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your fountain grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Roanoke. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Roanoke and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Roanoke it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your fountain grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Roanoke

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Roanoke

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