One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant arabis is to examine the USDA zone info for Rochester.

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 quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Rochester 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 grow to maturity. 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Rochester. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rochester is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rochester there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your arabis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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