One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant pentas is to examine the USDA zone info for Gretna.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant pentas until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Gretna 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pentas indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Gretna. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gretna is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Gretna there is a last frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your pentas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gretna

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Gretna

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