Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In South Bay you can figure out when it's the best time to plant astilbe by checking out 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 just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in South Bay 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 grow to maturity. Starting your astilbe indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in South Bay. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Bay is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in South Bay last frost occurs after January 31 so always be ready to cover your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Bay

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in South Bay

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bay.