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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Ketchikan it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant pentas.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant pentas until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Ketchikan is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pentas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ketchikan. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ketchikan is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ketchikan last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your pentas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ketchikan

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 Ketchikan

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