One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of getting a good idea when you can plant festuca is to examine the USDA zone info for Olive Branch.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Since festuca are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Olive Branch is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Olive Branch. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Olive Branch is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Olive Branch it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your festuca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Olive Branch

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Olive Branch

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Olive Branch.