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

The USDA zone info for Gainesville should be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant periwinkles.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

Frost tolerance for periwinkles:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since periwinkles are not cold tolerant you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Gainesville 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. If you are starting your periwinkles indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Gainesville. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Gainesville and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Gainesville there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your periwinkles if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gainesville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Gainesville

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