One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 can estimate when it's possible to plant astilbe in Columbia by using the USDA zone info.

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.

Astilbe do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe 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 astilbe and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your astilbe indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Columbia. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Columbia may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your astilbe in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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