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.

The first chance to plant penstemon in Lake Mary should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Since penstemon do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Lake Mary is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Mary the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Mary is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Mary you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Mary

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 Lake Mary

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