One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 Chester should be used to estimate when it's the best time to plant periwinkles.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

You should not plant periwinkles until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Chester 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. Any later than that and your periwinkles may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your periwinkles indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chester. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chester is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chester you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your periwinkles if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Chester

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