One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Zone 8b can be determined by using 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.

Since festuca do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Zone 8b 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your festuca indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Zone 8b. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 8b is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 8b last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your festuca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 8b

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 Zone 8b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 8b.