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.

The USDA zone info for Cleveland can be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant catharanthus.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Cleveland 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Cleveland. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cleveland is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cleveland it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cleveland

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 Cleveland

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