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.

A common way of figuring out when to plant catharanthus is to look at the USDA zone info for University Park.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Since catharanthus do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in University Park 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your catharanthus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

In University Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for University Park may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in University Park you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for University Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in University Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for University Park.