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.

You should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant hardy asters by referring to the USDA zone info for Rome.

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 can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Rome 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy asters may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your hardy asters indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rome is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rome last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hardy asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rome

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 Rome

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