One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant catharanthus is to use the USDA zone info for Damascus.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

You should not plant catharanthus until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Damascus 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your catharanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your catharanthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Damascus. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Damascus is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Damascus last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your catharanthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Damascus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Damascus

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