One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 Roselle can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant penstemon.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon do ok in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Roselle 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 really do well. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Roselle is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Roselle you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your penstemon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Roselle

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 Roselle

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