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.

In Jasper you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

You should not 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 Jasper 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 really do well. If you are starting your catharanthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Jasper. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Jasper and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Jasper you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jasper

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 Jasper

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