One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Helena can be used to figure out when you can plant festuca.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

Frost tolerance for festuca:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Festuca tend to make it in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Helena 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Helena the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Helena is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Helena you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your festuca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Helena

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Helena

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