When to Plant Fountain Grass in Pekin, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Pekin it's possible to determine when it's possible to plant fountain grass.


Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

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

You can plant fountain grass just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant fountain grass
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant fountain grass
Probably not a good time to plant fountain grass

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Pekin 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 fountain grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your fountain grass may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your fountain grass indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Pekin. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Pekin is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Pekin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your fountain grass in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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