When to Plant Asters in Red Oak, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant asters in Red Oak 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.

You can plant asters a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant asters
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant asters
Probably not a good time to plant asters

The earliest that you can plant asters in Red Oak 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 really do well. If you are starting your asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Red Oak. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Red Oak and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Red Oak you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Red Oak

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 Red Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Red Oak.