When to Plant Festuca in Boulder, CO

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Boulder can be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant festuca.


Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Boulder 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Boulder. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Boulder and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Boulder last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your festuca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Boulder

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Boulder

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