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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant aubrieta is to check out the USDA zone info for Fairfax.

Planting Calendar for Aubrieta

Frost tolerance for aubrieta:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Aubrieta do well in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant aubrieta in Fairfax 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 aubrieta and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your aubrieta may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your aubrieta indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Fairfax the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfax is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Fairfax you get a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your aubrieta if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfax

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