Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant catharanthus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Apple Valley.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

It's probably not a good 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 Apple Valley 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Apple Valley. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Apple Valley is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Apple Valley you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Apple Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Apple Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Apple Valley.