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.

You should be able to figure out when you can plant astilbe by checking out the USDA zone info for El Mirage.

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.

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

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in El Mirage 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. Any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your astilbe indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In El Mirage the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for El Mirage is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in El Mirage there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your astilbe in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Mirage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in El Mirage

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Mirage.