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 way of estimating when it's the best time to plant catharanthus is to look at the USDA zone info for Demopolis.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

Frost tolerance for catharanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Demopolis 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your catharanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Demopolis the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Demopolis is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Demopolis last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Demopolis

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 Demopolis

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