One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant pentas is to use the USDA zone info for University Place.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

Frost tolerance for pentas:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant pentas until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in University Place 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your pentas indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in University Place. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for University Place and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in University Place you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your pentas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for University Place

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 University Place

You may be interested in your other planting guides for University Place.