One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for New Britain should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's the best time to plant penstemon.

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 some cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in New Britain 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your penstemon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Britain. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for New Britain and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in New Britain you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your penstemon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Britain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in New Britain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Britain.