The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant carnation in Arcata can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Carnation are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Arcata. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Arcata and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Arcata it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your carnation in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Arcata

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Arcata

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