One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant pennisetum is to refer to the USDA zone info for Aurora.

Planting Calendar for Pennisetum

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

Pennisetum are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Aurora may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Aurora you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Aurora

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 Aurora

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