One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus in Marco Island by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Since catharanthus require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Marco Island 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your catharanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Marco Island. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marco Island is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Marco Island you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your catharanthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marco Island

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Marco Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Marco Island.