Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant rosemary is to use the USDA zone info for Big Rapids.

Planting Calendar for Rosemary

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

Rosemary can survive in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Big Rapids 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Big Rapids the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Big Rapids is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Big Rapids you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your rosemary in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Rapids

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 Big Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Rapids.