One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant purple rock cress by referring to the USDA zone info for Smiths Station.

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.

You can plant purple rock cress a lot earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Smiths Station 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. Any later than that and your purple rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purple rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Smiths Station may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Smiths Station you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Smiths Station

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 Smiths Station

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Smiths Station.