One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for South Bay should be reffered to in order to determine when it's possible to plant catharanthus.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

Frost tolerance for catharanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Catharanthus require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in South Bay 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 South Bay. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South Bay may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in South Bay it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your catharanthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Bay

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 South Bay

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bay.