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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant asters by referring to the USDA zone info for Altoona.

Planting Calendar for Asters

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

Since asters do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant asters in Altoona 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 asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asters may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Altoona. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Altoona is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Altoona

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