One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant aurinia is to consult the USDA zone info for Sterling.

Planting Calendar for Aurinia

Frost tolerance for aurinia:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since aurinia are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant aurinia in Sterling 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 aurinia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your aurinia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your aurinia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Sterling. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sterling is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sterling there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your aurinia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sterling

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