Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant pentas is to look at the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

Since pentas require warm weather it's important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Austin 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. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Austin the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Austin is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Austin last frost occurs after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pentas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

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 Austin

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