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

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant cerastium is to examine the USDA zone info for Rome.

Planting Calendar for Cerastium

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

You can plant cerastium a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cerastium in Rome 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 cerastium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cerastium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cerastium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rome. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rome is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rome there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cerastium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rome

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rome

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