One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant fountain grass by checking out the USDA zone info for New Castle.

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.

Fountain Grass are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in New Castle 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. Any later than that and your fountain grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your fountain grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for New Castle is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in New Castle it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your fountain grass if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Castle

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 New Castle

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Castle.