When to Plant Penstemon in North Liberty, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 North Liberty should be figured out by checking out 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.

Penstemon do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in North Liberty 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. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in North Liberty. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for North Liberty may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in North Liberty you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Liberty

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 North Liberty

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Liberty.