Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant festuca is to check out the USDA zone info for Hazel Crest.

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 just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Hazel Crest 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. Any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hazel Crest. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hazel Crest is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hazel Crest you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your festuca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hazel Crest

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 Hazel Crest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hazel Crest.