One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Portland you will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant fountain grass.

Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

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

You can plant fountain grass slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Portland 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 fountain grass and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fountain grass may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your fountain grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Portland. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Portland is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Portland it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your fountain grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

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

Plants to Grow in Portland

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