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.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant astilbe by reviewing the USDA zone info for Honesdale.

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.

Since astilbe do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Honesdale 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. Any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Honesdale is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Honesdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your astilbe in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Honesdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Honesdale

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