One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 USDA zone info for Minneapolis should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant penstemon.

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 frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Minneapolis 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Minneapolis. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Minneapolis is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Minneapolis it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Minneapolis

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 Minneapolis

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