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When to Plant Purple Rock Cress in Itasca, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant purple rock cress by using the USDA zone info for Itasca.


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 are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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 Itasca 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. Starting your purple rock cress indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Itasca. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Itasca and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Itasca you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your purple rock cress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Itasca

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Itasca

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