One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of estimating when you can plant astilbe is to consult the USDA zone info for De Soto.

Planting Calendar for Astilbe

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

Astilbe do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in De Soto 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 astilbe and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your astilbe may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in De Soto. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for De Soto and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in De Soto last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your astilbe if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for De Soto

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 De Soto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for De Soto.