One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 Mechanicsburg you can determine when it's a good idea to plant asters by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Asters

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

Asters do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Mechanicsburg 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. If you wait any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mechanicsburg. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mechanicsburg is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mechanicsburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mechanicsburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Mechanicsburg

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