Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant astilbe is to refer to the USDA zone info for Las Cruces.

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 very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Las Cruces 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. If you wait any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your astilbe indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Las Cruces the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Las Cruces is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Las Cruces last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your astilbe in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Las Cruces

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 Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 Las Cruces

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Las Cruces.