One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The first opportunity to plant pentas in Alma can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

Since pentas do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Alma is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pentas may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pentas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Alma. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Alma

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 Alma

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