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.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant hardy asters is to refer to the USDA zone info for Gardendale.

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.

Hardy Asters do ok in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Gardendale 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. Starting your hardy asters indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Gardendale. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Gardendale is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gardendale there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hardy asters in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gardendale

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 Gardendale

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