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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant catharanthus is to look at the USDA zone info for Aberdeen.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

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 Aberdeen is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Aberdeen. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Aberdeen and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Aberdeen you get a frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your catharanthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Aberdeen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Aberdeen

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