When to Plant Roses in Atlanta, GA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant roses is to refer to the USDA zone info for Atlanta.


Planting Calendar for Roses

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

Roses are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant roses
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant roses
Probably not a good time to plant roses

The earliest that you can plant roses in Atlanta 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 roses and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your roses may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your roses indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Atlanta. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Atlanta may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Atlanta it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your roses if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atlanta

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 Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 Atlanta

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