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.

The USDA zone info for Ruidoso can be read to figure out when it's the best time 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 Ruidoso 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your rosemary indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Ruidoso. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ruidoso is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ruidoso it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your rosemary in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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