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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant periwinkles is to look at the USDA zone info for Crystal Lake.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant periwinkles until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Crystal Lake 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 periwinkles and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your periwinkles may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your periwinkles indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Crystal Lake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Crystal Lake it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your periwinkles in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crystal Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Crystal Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crystal Lake.