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.

In Westfield you can estimate when it's possible to plant catharanthus 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 not a good idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Westfield 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Westfield. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Westfield may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Westfield last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Westfield

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 Westfield

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