One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant asters by referring to the USDA zone info for Highwood.

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 mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Highwood 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Highwood may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Highwood last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Highwood

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 Highwood

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