When to Plant Rock Cress in Zone 1a

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.

It's possible to figure out when it's possible to plant rock cress by looking at the USDA zone info for Zone 1a.


Planting Calendar for Rock Cress

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

Rock Cress are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant rock cress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant rock cress
Probably not a good time to plant rock cress

The earliest that you can plant rock cress in Zone 1a is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 July. If you wait 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

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on June 15 in Zone 1a. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -60°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 1a is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 1a it frosts late in the year after June 15 so always be ready to cover your rock cress in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-60°F
Highest Expected Low-55°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -60°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -55°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1a.