One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Munster it's possible to figure out when to plant penstemon.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Munster 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. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Munster the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Munster is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Munster you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your penstemon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Munster

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 Munster

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