One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant pennisetum is to examine the USDA zone info for Vermilion.

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.

You can plant pennisetum a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Vermilion 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Vermilion. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Vermilion may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Vermilion last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pennisetum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vermilion

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Vermilion

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