One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Ruston can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant periwinkles.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

Since periwinkles are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Ruston 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ruston the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ruston is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ruston there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your periwinkles if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ruston

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