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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant pennisetum is to look at the USDA zone info for Yuma.

Planting Calendar for Pennisetum

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

Pennisetum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Yuma 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 pennisetum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Yuma. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Yuma is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Yuma you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your pennisetum if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Yuma

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Yuma

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