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 Virginia should be used to estimate when it's the best time 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.

You really shouldn't plant periwinkles until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Virginia 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 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your periwinkles indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Virginia. It might get as low as -35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Virginia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Virginia last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your periwinkles in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Virginia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Virginia

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