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.

In Palo Alto you can determine when you can plant pennisetum by using the USDA zone info.

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.

Since pennisetum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Palo Alto 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. Any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Palo Alto. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Palo Alto and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Palo Alto last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your pennisetum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

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 Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.