One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant lemon grass is to use the USDA zone info for Swarthmore.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

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

Lemon grass do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass in Swarthmore 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 lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lemon grass may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lemon grass indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Swarthmore the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Swarthmore and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Swarthmore last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lemon grass in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Swarthmore

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 Swarthmore

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