One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant asters in Laurel by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Asters

Frost tolerance for asters:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Asters are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Laurel 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 asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Laurel. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Laurel last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

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 Laurel

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