One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant purple rock cress by looking at the USDA zone info for Zone 8a.

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.

You can plant purple rock cress much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant purple rock cress in Zone 8a 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. 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 March 15 in Zone 8a. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 8a is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 8a there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your purple rock cress if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 8a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 8a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 8a.