One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of determining when to plant asters is to examine the USDA zone info for Steilacoom.

Planting Calendar for Asters

Frost tolerance for asters:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Asters do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Steilacoom 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 asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Steilacoom is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Steilacoom last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your asters in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Steilacoom

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 Steilacoom

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