One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant rosemary is to look at the USDA zone info for Ionia.

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 earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Ionia 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. Any later than that and your rosemary may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ionia the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ionia is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ionia you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your rosemary in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ionia

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 Ionia

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