Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Melbourne you can determine when to plant penstemon 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 just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Melbourne 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 February 15 in Melbourne. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Melbourne and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Melbourne last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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