When to Plant Rosemary in Freeport, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You will be able to determine when you can plant rosemary by using the USDA zone info for Freeport.


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.

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

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Freeport 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. If you wait any later than that and your rosemary may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Freeport. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Freeport may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Freeport you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your rosemary in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Freeport

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 Freeport

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