One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Black Mountain should be read to determine when it's possible 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.

Since penstemon do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Black Mountain 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Black Mountain. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Black Mountain is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Black Mountain it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Black Mountain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Black Mountain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Black Mountain.