Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant penstemon by using the USDA zone info for Nogales.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Nogales 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 fully mature. If you are starting your penstemon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Nogales. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Nogales is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Nogales there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your penstemon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Nogales

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 Nogales

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