One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

It's possible to estimate when you can plant purple rock cress by reviewing the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz.

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 are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Santa Cruz 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 purple rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait 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 February 15 in Santa Cruz. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Cruz may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Cruz

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 Santa Cruz

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Cruz.