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

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant rosemary is to use the USDA zone info for Waukee.

Planting Calendar for Rosemary

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

Rosemary are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Waukee 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 really do well. If you are starting your rosemary indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Waukee. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waukee is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Waukee you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your rosemary if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waukee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Waukee

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