The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus is to look at the USDA zone info for Allen.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

You really shouldn't plant catharanthus until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Allen. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Allen is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Allen there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your catharanthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Allen

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 Allen

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