One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 USDA zone info for Ketchikan should be used to estimate when it's possible to plant hardy asters.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Asters

Frost tolerance for hardy asters:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since hardy asters do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Ketchikan 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ketchikan. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ketchikan and it is different every year. Half of the time in Ketchikan last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your hardy asters in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ketchikan

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ketchikan

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ketchikan.