One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Mount Olive you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Catharanthus are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Mount Olive 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. If you wait any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mount Olive and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Olive you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your catharanthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Olive

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 Mount Olive

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