One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Alexandria it's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant periwinkles.

Planting Calendar for Periwinkles

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

Periwinkles are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant periwinkles in Alexandria 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Alexandria. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alexandria is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alexandria there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your periwinkles if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

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 Alexandria

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