One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant astilbe is to check out the USDA zone info for Southaven.

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 can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Southaven 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 when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Southaven. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Southaven and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Southaven it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Southaven

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Southaven

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