One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 USDA zone info for Longboat Key can be used to estimate when it's a good idea to plant fountain grass.

Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

Frost tolerance for fountain grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant fountain grass just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Longboat Key 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 fountain grass and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your fountain grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your fountain grass indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Longboat Key. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Longboat Key is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Longboat Key there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your fountain grass in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Longboat Key

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Longboat Key

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Longboat Key.