Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when you can plant penstemon is to examine the USDA zone info for Hudson.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Hudson 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. Any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hudson. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hudson is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Hudson last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your penstemon in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hudson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Hudson

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