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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant rosemary is to refer to the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Rosemary

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

Since rosemary do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Charleston 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. Starting your rosemary indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Charleston. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Charleston last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your rosemary if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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