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.

In Oskaloosa you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant pentas by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant pentas until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Oskaloosa is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pentas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Oskaloosa. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Oskaloosa is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Oskaloosa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your pentas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oskaloosa

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 Oskaloosa

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