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.

One way of determining when to plant penstemon is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lancaster.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon do well 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 Lancaster 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lancaster. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lancaster is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lancaster it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your penstemon in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

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 Lancaster

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