One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Rocky Mount can be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

Since decorative kale are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Rocky Mount 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your decorative kale may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your decorative kale indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Rocky Mount. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rocky Mount may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rocky Mount last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your decorative kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rocky Mount

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 Rocky Mount

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rocky Mount.