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.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant ornamental grasses is to use the USDA zone info for Newport.

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 do ok in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in Newport 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 grow to maturity. Starting your ornamental grasses indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Newport. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport 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 Newport you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your ornamental grasses in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

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 Newport

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