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 getting a good idea when it's possible to plant arabis is to examine the USDA zone info for Lake Stevens.

Planting Calendar for Arabis

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

You can plant arabis much earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant arabis in Lake Stevens 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. If you wait any later than that and your arabis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your arabis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Lake Stevens. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Stevens and it is different every year. Half of the time in Lake Stevens you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your arabis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Stevens

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 Lake Stevens

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Stevens.