One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Ligonier can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

You can plant penstemon just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Ligonier 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ligonier and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ligonier last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your penstemon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ligonier

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 Ligonier

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