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

The USDA zone info for Portsmouth can be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant pampas grass.

Planting Calendar for Pampas Grass

Frost tolerance for pampas grass:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant pampas grass until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pampas grass in Portsmouth is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pampas grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pampas grass may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pampas grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Portsmouth. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portsmouth is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Portsmouth last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your pampas grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Portsmouth

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