One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Raton you can figure out when to plant asters 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 do well in some 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 asters in Raton 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asters may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Raton is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Raton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Raton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Raton

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