One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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 Mountainside should be read to estimate when it's the best time 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 a bad idea to plant pentas until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Mountainside 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pentas may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your pentas indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Mountainside. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mountainside may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mountainside you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pentas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mountainside

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 Mountainside

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