One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Carmi should be reviewed to determine when you can plant catharanthus.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Catharanthus require warm weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Carmi is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant catharanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your catharanthus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carmi. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Carmi may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carmi it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carmi

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carmi

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