One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The USDA zone info for Deerfield should be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant festuca.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

Frost tolerance for festuca:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant festuca a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Deerfield 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your festuca indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Deerfield may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Deerfield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your festuca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Deerfield

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 Deerfield

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