One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant festuca is to look at the USDA zone info for Essex Junction.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

Frost tolerance for festuca:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Festuca can survive in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Essex Junction 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Essex Junction. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Essex Junction and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Essex Junction you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your festuca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Essex Junction

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Essex Junction

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Essex Junction.