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.

One way of determining when you can plant hardy asters is to use the USDA zone info for Kent.

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.

Hardy Asters are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Kent 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your hardy asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Kent. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Kent is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Kent last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your hardy asters in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Kent

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Kent

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