One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 first chance to plant penstemon in Christiansburg can be figured out by checking out 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.

You can plant penstemon just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Christiansburg 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. If you wait any later than that and your penstemon may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Christiansburg the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Christiansburg is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Christiansburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your penstemon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Christiansburg

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 Christiansburg

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