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.

You will be able to determine when you can plant pennisetum by looking at the USDA zone info for San Diego.

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.

You can plant pennisetum slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in San Diego 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Diego. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Diego and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in San Diego you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your pennisetum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

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 San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.