One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first chance to plant astilbe in Rancho Mirage should be estimated by using 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 a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Rancho 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. If you wait any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Rancho Mirage. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rancho Mirage is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rancho Mirage there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rancho 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 Rancho Mirage

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