One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Cleveland can be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

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.

Since pennisetum do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Cleveland 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Cleveland. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cleveland is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cleveland you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your pennisetum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cleveland

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 Cleveland

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