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.

The USDA zone info for Ketchikan can be read to figure out when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

Frost tolerance for catharanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Ketchikan is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant catharanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your catharanthus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ketchikan. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ketchikan is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ketchikan you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ketchikan

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ketchikan

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