One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant pennisetum is to consult the USDA zone info for Bernalillo.

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.

Since pennisetum are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Bernalillo 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. Any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pennisetum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Bernalillo. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Bernalillo is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bernalillo you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bernalillo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bernalillo

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