One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

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

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

Rock Cress are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in North Port 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 rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in North Port. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for North Port is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in North Port you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your rock cress if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Port

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 North Port

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Port.