When to Plant Festuca in Ephrata, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Ephrata should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Ephrata 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ephrata the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ephrata and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ephrata last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your festuca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ephrata

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Ephrata

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