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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant penstemon is to check out the USDA zone info for Ulysses.

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 a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Ulysses 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 really do well. 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 Ulysses. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ulysses is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ulysses there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your penstemon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ulysses

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 Ulysses

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