One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Alma you can determine when it's possible to plant dianthus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dianthus

Frost tolerance for dianthus:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Dianthus are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dianthus in Alma 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 dianthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your dianthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dianthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Alma. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Alma and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Alma you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dianthus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alma

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 Alma

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