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When to Plant Purple Rock Cress in Machesney Park, IL

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.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Machesney Park can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


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 do ok in cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier in the year 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 Machesney Park 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. If you are starting your purple rock cress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Machesney Park. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Machesney Park and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Machesney Park last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your purple rock cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Machesney Park

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 Machesney Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Machesney Park.