When to Plant Rosemary in Zone 11a

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 Zone 11a should be used 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.

Rosemary are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant rosemary
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant rosemary
Probably not a good time to plant rosemary

The earliest that you can plant rosemary in Zone 11a is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant rosemary and expect a good harvest is probably November. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your rosemary may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your rosemary indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 11a it never frosts. You should expect an average low temperature of 40°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 11a is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since it never frosts in Zone 11a you do not have to be ready to protect your rosemary in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 11a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 11a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)Never
Average Date of First Frost (fall)Never
Lowest Expected Low40°F
Highest Expected Low45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 45°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 11a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 11a.