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

The first opportunity to plant arabis in Bismarck can be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

Arabis do well in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Bismarck is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant arabis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your arabis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your arabis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Bismarck. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bismarck is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bismarck you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your arabis if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bismarck

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bismarck

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