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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant periwinkles is to consult the USDA zone info for Colby.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

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

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Colby 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 really do well. If you are starting your periwinkles indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Colby. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Colby is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Colby you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your periwinkles if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Colby

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 Colby

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