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 common way of determining when to plant asters is to look at the USDA zone info for Saratoga.

Planting Calendar for Asters

Frost tolerance for asters:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant asters a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Saratoga is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asters and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Saratoga the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Saratoga 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 Saratoga last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Saratoga

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 Saratoga

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