One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Athens should be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant purple rock cress.

Planting Calendar for Purple Rock Cress

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

Purple Rock Cress tend to make it in cold weather which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Athens 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 purple rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your purple rock cress indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Athens. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Athens may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Athens it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Athens

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