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When to Plant Hardy Asters in Columbia, PA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's possible to plant hardy asters by looking at the USDA zone info for Columbia.


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.

Since hardy asters are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant hardy asters
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant hardy asters
Probably not a good time to plant hardy asters

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Columbia 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. If you wait any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbia. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Columbia and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hardy asters in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

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

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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