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.

The USDA zone info for Ishpeming can be read to estimate when it's possible to plant pentas.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

You really shouldn't plant pentas until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Ishpeming is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pentas indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ishpeming is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ishpeming you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your pentas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ishpeming

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ishpeming

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