The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant hardy asters is to look at the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Asters

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

Hardy Asters do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Austin 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Austin. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Austin is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Austin you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your hardy asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

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 Austin

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