One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Amherst you can figure out when it's the best time to plant aurinia by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Aurinia

Frost tolerance for aurinia:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since aurinia are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant aurinia in Amherst 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 aurinia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your aurinia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your aurinia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Amherst the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Amherst and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Amherst last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your aurinia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Amherst

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 Amherst

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