One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant arabis in Grand Rapids by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

Frost tolerance for arabis:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Arabis do ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Grand Rapids 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 arabis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your arabis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your arabis indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Grand Rapids. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Grand Rapids may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Grand Rapids you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your arabis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Rapids

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Grand Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Rapids.