One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Nitro you will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant purple rock cress.

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.

Since purple rock cress do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Nitro 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. If you wait any later than that and your purple rock cress may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purple rock cress indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Nitro. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Nitro is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Nitro it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your purple rock cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Nitro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Nitro

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