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

It's possible to determine when to plant arabis by looking at the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

Arabis can survive in cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Madison 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 arabis and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your arabis may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your arabis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your arabis in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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