One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

The first opportunity to plant cerastium in Alton can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cerastium

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

Since cerastium are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cerastium in Alton 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 cerastium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cerastium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cerastium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Alton. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alton is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cerastium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Alton

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