When to Plant Pampas Grass in Watertown, NY

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant pampas grass in Watertown should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Pampas Grass

Frost tolerance for pampas grass: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pampas grass until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pampas grass
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pampas grass
Probably not a good time to plant pampas grass

The earliest that you can plant pampas grass in Watertown is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pampas grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pampas grass may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your pampas grass indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Watertown. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Watertown and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Watertown you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your pampas grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Watertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Watertown

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