One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant rosemary is to consult the USDA zone info for Oxford.

Planting Calendar for Rosemary

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

You can plant rosemary a lot earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Oxford. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oxford is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Oxford you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your rosemary in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oxford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Oxford

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