One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant festuca is to look at the USDA zone info for Artesia.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca do ok in moderate cold which tells us 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 festuca in Artesia is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant festuca and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your festuca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Artesia the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Artesia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Artesia

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