One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 estimating when you can plant festuca is to use the USDA zone info for South Lake Tahoe.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca do well in some 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 South Lake Tahoe 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your festuca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Lake Tahoe. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South Lake Tahoe is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Lake Tahoe last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your festuca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Lake Tahoe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in South Lake Tahoe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Lake Tahoe.