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.

The first opportunity to plant asters in Albuquerque should be figured out 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 are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Albuquerque 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. Any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Albuquerque. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albuquerque is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Albuquerque last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your asters if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albuquerque

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 Albuquerque

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