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

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant catharanthus by referring to the USDA zone info for Crystal City.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

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

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Crystal City is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant catharanthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your catharanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Crystal City. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Crystal City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Crystal City you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your catharanthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crystal City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

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

Plants to Grow in Crystal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crystal City.