One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant pentas is to examine the USDA zone info for Benson.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant pentas until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Benson 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 really do well. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Benson the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Benson is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Benson last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your pentas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Benson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Benson

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