When to Plant Purple Rock Cress in Steamboat Springs, CO

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant purple rock cress is to look at the USDA zone info for Steamboat Springs.


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 can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant purple rock cress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant purple rock cress
Probably not a good time to plant purple rock cress

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Steamboat Springs is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Steamboat Springs. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Steamboat Springs and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Steamboat Springs there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Steamboat Springs

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Steamboat Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Steamboat Springs.