The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 Itasca by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Itasca 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. Any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Itasca. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Itasca is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Itasca there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your catharanthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Itasca

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 Itasca

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