One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 estimate when it's the best time to plant periwinkles in Dekalb by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant periwinkles until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Dekalb 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. Starting your periwinkles indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Dekalb the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dekalb is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Dekalb you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your periwinkles if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dekalb

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 Dekalb

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