One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 Piedmont can be looked at to estimate when it's a good idea to plant ornamental grasses.

Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

Frost tolerance for ornamental grasses:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Ornamental Grasses are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in Piedmont 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 ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your ornamental grasses indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Piedmont is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Piedmont you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your ornamental grasses in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

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 Piedmont

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