When to Plant Pampas Grass in Watertown, SD

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Watertown you can determine when it's a good idea to plant pampas grass by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Pampas Grass

Frost tolerance for pampas grass: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant pampas grass until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant pampas grass in Watertown is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pampas grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pampas grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pampas grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Watertown. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Watertown may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Watertown there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your pampas grass if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-30°F
Highest Expected Low-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Watertown

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