One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when you can plant penstemon in Chicopee by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Chicopee 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chicopee. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chicopee may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicopee there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chicopee

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 Chicopee

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