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.

A common way of estimating when you can plant hardy asters is to consult the USDA zone info for Northampton.

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.

You can plant hardy asters slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Northampton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Northampton there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your hardy asters if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Northampton

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 Low	0°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 Northampton

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