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

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant lovage is to look at the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Lovage

Frost tolerance for lovage:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since lovage do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Rockford is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes 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 ready to cover your lovage 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.