The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives by looking at the USDA zone info for Rochester.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Rochester 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chinese chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rochester the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rochester you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Rochester

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