The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant purple rock cress is to examine the USDA zone info for Petal.

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.

Purple Rock Cress do ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Petal 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. Any later than that and your purple rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your purple rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Petal. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Petal is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Petal you get a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your purple rock cress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Petal

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