The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant pennisetum is to look at the USDA zone info for Vermillion.

Planting Calendar for Pennisetum

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

Pennisetum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Vermillion 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 pennisetum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Vermillion. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Vermillion is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Vermillion last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vermillion

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 Vermillion

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