Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when you can plant festuca is to look at the USDA zone info for Northfield.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

Frost tolerance for festuca:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since festuca do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Northfield 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Northfield. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Northfield and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Northfield it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your festuca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Northfield

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 Northfield

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