Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when to plant catharanthus is to consult the USDA zone info for Williamsburg.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

Frost tolerance for catharanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Williamsburg 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your catharanthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Williamsburg. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Williamsburg is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Williamsburg there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your catharanthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Williamsburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Williamsburg

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