One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's possible to determine when it's possible to plant asters by referring to the USDA zone info for Lake Charles.

Planting Calendar for Asters

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

Asters do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Lake Charles is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asters and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Lake Charles. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Charles is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Charles last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your asters if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Charles

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Charles

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Charles.