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

In Dayton you can estimate when it's possible to plant hardy asters by reviewing the USDA zone info.

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 barely cold tolerant 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 Dayton is April. However, you really should wait until May 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Dayton. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dayton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Dayton there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hardy asters if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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