One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant periwinkles in Houston can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant periwinkles until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Houston 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 periwinkles and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your periwinkles may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your periwinkles indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Houston. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Houston may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Houston there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your periwinkles if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Houston

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 Houston

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