One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant catharanthus is to examine the USDA zone info for Fond Du Lac.

Planting Calendar for Catharanthus

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

Catharanthus do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant catharanthus in Fond Du Lac 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. Starting your catharanthus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Fond Du Lac. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fond Du Lac is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Fond Du Lac it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your catharanthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fond Du Lac

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fond Du Lac

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fond Du Lac.