Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant penstemon is to check out the USDA zone info for Latrobe.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Latrobe 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Latrobe. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Latrobe may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Latrobe it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Latrobe

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 Latrobe

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