The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 Hammond can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant asters.

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 some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Hammond 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. Any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Hammond is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hammond you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hammond

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 Hammond

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