One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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 estimating when it's possible to plant cosmos is to look at the USDA zone info for Rockwood.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant cosmos a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Rockwood is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cosmos indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rockwood. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rockwood is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rockwood it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cosmos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rockwood

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 Rockwood

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