When to Plant Pentas in Fort Lee, NJ

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Fort Lee can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant pentas.


Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant pentas until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pentas
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pentas
Probably not a good time to plant pentas

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Fort Lee is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Fort Lee. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Lee is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Lee you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your pentas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Lee

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 Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°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 Fort Lee

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Lee.