One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant astilbe is to check out the USDA zone info for Orangeburg.

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 just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Orangeburg 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. If you wait any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Orangeburg. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Orangeburg may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Orangeburg last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your astilbe if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orangeburg

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 Orangeburg

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