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

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in El Dorado should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

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

Ornamental Grasses can survive in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in El Dorado 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 ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your ornamental grasses indoors.

Last Frost Date

In El Dorado the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for El Dorado may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in El Dorado it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your ornamental grasses if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Dorado

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 El Dorado

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Dorado.