One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 Opelousas.

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.

Since hardy asters are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Opelousas 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 February 15 in Opelousas. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Opelousas is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Opelousas you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your hardy asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Opelousas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Opelousas

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