One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You will be able to figure out when to plant purple rock cress by checking out the USDA zone info for Matteson.

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.

Since purple rock cress are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Matteson 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple rock cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purple rock cress indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Matteson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Matteson is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Matteson you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your purple rock cress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Matteson

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 Matteson

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