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.

The earliest that you can plant copperleaf in Rockford can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Copperleaf

Frost tolerance for copperleaf:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since copperleaf do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant copperleaf in Rockford is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant copperleaf and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your copperleaf may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your copperleaf indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Rockford. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rockford is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rockford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your copperleaf in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rockford

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