One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant periwinkles is to refer to the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

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 Mount Vernon 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 grow to maturity. 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Mount Vernon. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Mount Vernon is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Vernon last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your periwinkles in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Vernon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mount Vernon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Vernon.