Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 Rutherford can be used to estimate when it's possible to plant pennisetum.

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 can survive in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Rutherford 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rutherford is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rutherford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rutherford

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 Rutherford

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