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

The USDA zone info for Laurel should be reviewed to determine when it's possible to plant rosemary.

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 a lot 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 Laurel 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. If you wait any later than that and your rosemary may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Laurel. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Laurel it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your rosemary if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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