One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Orange Beach you can determine when it's possible to plant astilbe by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Astilbe

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

You can plant astilbe just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Orange Beach 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 astilbe and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your astilbe may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Orange Beach. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Orange Beach is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Orange Beach there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orange Beach

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 Orange Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Orange Beach.