One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant garden mums is to use the USDA zone info for Albany.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

Garden Mums tend to make it in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Albany 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your garden mums indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Albany. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albany is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Albany you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your garden mums if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albany

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Albany

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