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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant penstemon is to consult the USDA zone info for Sturgis.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

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

Penstemon are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Sturgis 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sturgis the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sturgis is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Sturgis you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your penstemon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sturgis

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sturgis

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