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.

In Alabaster you can estimate when it's the best time to plant rock cress by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

Rock Cress tend to make it in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in Alabaster 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 rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Alabaster. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Alabaster is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alabaster last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your rock cress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alabaster

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Alabaster

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