One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Homestead you can figure out 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 when the weather gets warmer.

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

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Homestead 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Homestead. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Homestead and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Homestead there is a last frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your catharanthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Homestead

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 Homestead

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