When to Plant Carnation in Rapid City, SD

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.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Rapid City should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Carnation

Frost tolerance for carnation: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant carnation quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant carnation
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant carnation
Probably not a good time to plant carnation

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

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your carnation indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rapid City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rapid City is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rapid City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your carnation in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

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 Rapid City

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