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 Decatur you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant asters 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 well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Decatur. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Decatur is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Decatur you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your asters if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Decatur

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