One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 earliest that you can plant catharanthus in University Place can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

It's not a good idea to 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 University Place 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your catharanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in University Place. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for University Place may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in University Place there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your catharanthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for University Place

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in University Place

You may be interested in your other planting guides for University Place.