Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Mount Airy you can estimate when it's the best time to plant penstemon by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Mount Airy 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. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mount Airy. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Airy is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Airy there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your penstemon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Airy

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 Mount Airy

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Airy.