One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus is to use the USDA zone info for Shakopee.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Catharanthus do not do well in cold weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Shakopee is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. If you wait any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Shakopee. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Shakopee is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Shakopee you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your catharanthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shakopee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Shakopee

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