One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Delray Beach.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Since catharanthus are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Delray Beach is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant catharanthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. 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 January 31 in Delray Beach. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Delray Beach is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Delray Beach you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your catharanthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Delray Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Delray Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Delray Beach.