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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Ilion it's possible to estimate when to plant hardy asters.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Asters

Frost tolerance for hardy asters:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Hardy Asters are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Ilion 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 hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Ilion. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ilion is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ilion you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your hardy asters if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ilion

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ilion

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