Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Ottawa can be looked at to determine when 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.

Since fountain grass are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Ottawa 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. Starting your fountain grass indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ottawa. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ottawa is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your fountain grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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