One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant arabis by looking at the USDA zone info for Oak Park.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

Arabis tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Oak 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 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. Starting your arabis 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 Oak Park. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Park is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Oak Park last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your arabis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Oak Park

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