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.

In Bemidji you can figure out when it's possible to plant penstemon by referring to 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 do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably August. 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Bemidji. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bemidji is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bemidji there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bemidji

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Bemidji

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