When to Plant Asters in Elizabeth City, NC

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant asters in Elizabeth City 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.

Since asters do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant asters
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant asters
Probably not a good time to plant asters

The earliest that you can plant asters in Elizabeth City 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 asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your asters indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Elizabeth City. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elizabeth City and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Elizabeth City last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elizabeth City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)November 15
Lowest Expected Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Elizabeth City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elizabeth City.