When to Plant Festuca in Zone 3a

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.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Zone 3a can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant festuca
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant festuca
Probably not a good time to plant festuca

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Zone 3a 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. If you wait any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 3a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -40°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 3a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3a you get a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your festuca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-40°F
Highest Expected Low-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.