One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant pentas by checking out the USDA zone info for Cornelius.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

Pentas require warm weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Cornelius is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pentas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Cornelius. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cornelius you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your pentas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cornelius

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Cornelius

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