One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when you can plant periwinkles by using the USDA zone info for Taft.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

Frost tolerance for periwinkles:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Periwinkles do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant periwinkles and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your periwinkles may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your periwinkles indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Taft the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Taft is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Taft it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your periwinkles in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Taft

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Taft

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