One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

The USDA zone info for Rio Rancho can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible to plant astilbe.

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.

You can plant astilbe slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Rio Rancho 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 really do well. If you are starting your astilbe indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rio Rancho the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rio Rancho last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your astilbe if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Rancho

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 Rio Rancho

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Rancho.