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.

By using the USDA zone info for Garden City it's possible to determine when you can plant penstemon.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Since penstemon do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Garden City 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. Any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your penstemon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Garden City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Garden City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Garden City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Garden City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Garden City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Garden City.