One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when to plant arabis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bellville.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

Arabis are very cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Bellville 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. Any later than that and your arabis may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your arabis indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Bellville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bellville last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your arabis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bellville

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 Bellville

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