When to Plant Pennisetum in Herndon, VA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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 estimating when you can plant pennisetum is to examine the USDA zone info for Herndon.


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 are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pennisetum
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pennisetum
Probably not a good time to plant pennisetum

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Herndon 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Herndon. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Herndon is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Herndon last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your pennisetum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Herndon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Herndon

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