The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant arabis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Pittsfield.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

Arabis are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Pittsfield 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. If you wait any later than that and your arabis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your arabis indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Pittsfield the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Pittsfield is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Pittsfield it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your arabis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pittsfield

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 Pittsfield

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