Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant pennisetum is to examine the USDA zone info for Allen.

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 are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Allen 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. Any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pennisetum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Allen the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Allen is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Allen last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your pennisetum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Allen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Allen

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