The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant hardy asters is to look at the USDA zone info for Surprise.

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.

You can plant hardy asters slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Surprise 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Surprise the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Surprise may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Surprise there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your hardy asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Surprise

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 Surprise

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