One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Roanoke you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant lovage by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lovage

Frost tolerance for lovage:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lovage tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In Roanoke the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Roanoke and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Roanoke there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your lovage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Roanoke

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Roanoke

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