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.

In Hopewell you can estimate when it's possible to plant pennisetum by referring to 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.

Since pennisetum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pennisetum in Hopewell 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. If you wait any later than that and your pennisetum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pennisetum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hopewell. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hopewell is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hopewell last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your pennisetum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hopewell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Hopewell

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