One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 making a decision about when to plant astilbe is to consult the USDA zone info for Dayton.

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 can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant astilbe in Dayton 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 astilbe and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your astilbe may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your astilbe indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Dayton the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Dayton is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dayton it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your astilbe if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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