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.

One way of making a decision about when to plant roses is to look at the USDA zone info for Fort Myers.

Planting Calendar for Roses

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

You can plant roses a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant roses in Fort Myers is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant roses and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your roses may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your roses indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Fort Myers. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Myers is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Myers you get a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your roses in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Myers

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Myers

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Myers.