One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant asters is to use the USDA zone info for Dayton.

Planting Calendar for Asters

Frost tolerance for asters:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Asters do ok in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Dayton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Dayton is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Dayton last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

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 Dayton

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