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.

The first chance to plant rosemary in Mattoon can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

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 much earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Mattoon 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mattoon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mattoon is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mattoon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your rosemary in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mattoon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Mattoon

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