One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The first chance to plant rock cress in Federal Way can be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

You can plant rock cress quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in Federal Way 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 rock cress and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your rock cress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Federal Way the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Federal Way is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Federal Way you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your rock cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Federal Way

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 Federal Way

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Federal Way.