One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 figuring out when it's the best time to plant pennisetum is to check out the USDA zone info for Gastonia.

Planting Calendar for Pennisetum

Frost tolerance for pennisetum:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Pennisetum tend to make it in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Gastonia 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 pennisetum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Gastonia the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Gastonia is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Gastonia it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pennisetum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gastonia

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 Gastonia

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