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 common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant penstemon is to consult the USDA zone info for Bella Vista.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

You can plant penstemon a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

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

USDA Zone Info for Bella Vista

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Bella Vista

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bella Vista.