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.

The first chance to plant sweet williams in Rockford should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

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

Sweet Williams do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rockford. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rockford 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 Rockford it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your sweet williams if you have 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.