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.

In Virginia Beach you can figure out when it's a good idea 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 Virginia Beach 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your penstemon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Virginia Beach. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Virginia Beach is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Virginia Beach you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Virginia Beach

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 Virginia Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Virginia Beach.