The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In San Diego you can determine when it's a good idea to plant pennisetum by checking out 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.

Pennisetum can survive in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in San Diego 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 pennisetum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Diego the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Diego is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Diego it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your pennisetum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.