One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Dayton you will be able to estimate when you can plant hardy asters.

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 very little cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Dayton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Dayton is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dayton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your hardy asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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