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

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant astilbe is to examine the USDA zone info for Southampton.

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 just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Southampton 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Southampton. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Southampton is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Southampton you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your astilbe in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Southampton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Southampton

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