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 Haverhill can be reffered to in order to figure out when you can plant penstemon.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Since penstemon are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Haverhill 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 fully mature. If you are starting your penstemon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Haverhill. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Haverhill and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Haverhill you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Haverhill

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 Haverhill

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