One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 asters in Melbourne can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Asters

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

Asters do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Melbourne 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Melbourne last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your asters if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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