One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 first chance to plant pentas in Peoria should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant pentas until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Peoria 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pentas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Peoria. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Peoria may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Peoria it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your pentas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Peoria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Peoria

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