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

One way of determining when you can plant penstemon is to use the USDA zone info for Leesville.

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 Leesville 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. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your penstemon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Leesville the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Leesville is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Leesville you get a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Leesville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Leesville

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