Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant liatris in Zone 3a should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Liatris

Frost tolerance for liatris:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Liatris are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant liatris in Zone 3a 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 liatris and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your liatris may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your liatris indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 3a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -40°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Zone 3a is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 3a there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your liatris if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-40°F
Highest Expected Low	-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.