One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Aurora you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant dusty miller by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dusty Miller

Frost tolerance for dusty miller:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Dusty Miller do ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant dusty miller in Aurora 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 dusty miller and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dusty miller may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your dusty miller indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Aurora. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Aurora and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Aurora it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your dusty miller in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Aurora

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Aurora

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