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

In Bluefield you can determine when to plant penstemon by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Penstemon

Frost tolerance for penstemon:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Penstemon do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Bluefield 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 penstemon and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your penstemon indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bluefield. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Bluefield 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 Bluefield it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your penstemon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bluefield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Bluefield

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