When to Plant Penstemon in Montclair, CA

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.

The first opportunity to plant penstemon in Montclair can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


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 moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant penstemon
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant penstemon
Probably not a good time to plant penstemon

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Montclair 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Montclair. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Montclair and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Montclair it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Montclair

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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 Montclair

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