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.

In Summit you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus by referring to 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.

It's probably not a good idea to plant catharanthus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Summit 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 really do well. If you are starting your catharanthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Summit. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Summit is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Summit it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Summit

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Summit

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