One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Arlington you can estimate when it's possible to plant penstemon by reviewing 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.

Since penstemon do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant penstemon in Arlington 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your penstemon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Arlington. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Arlington is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Arlington it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your penstemon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Arlington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Arlington

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