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.

In Fort Atkinson you can figure out when it's the best time to plant pentas by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

Pentas do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Atkinson. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Atkinson is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Atkinson you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pentas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Atkinson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Fort Atkinson

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Atkinson.