One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant flowering tobacco by referring to the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Tobacco

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

Flowering Tobacco are not cold tolerant which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco 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 flowering tobacco and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your flowering tobacco may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your flowering tobacco indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rockford is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rockford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your flowering tobacco in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.