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.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant pennisetum is to examine the USDA zone info for Danville.

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.

Since pennisetum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Danville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pennisetum indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Danville. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Danville is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Danville it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Danville

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 Danville

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