One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Wood Dale should be reviewed to figure out when you can plant astilbe.

Planting Calendar for Astilbe

Frost tolerance for astilbe:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since astilbe do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Wood Dale is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant astilbe and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your astilbe indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Wood Dale the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Wood Dale is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wood Dale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wood Dale

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 Wood Dale

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Wood Dale.