Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Atherton should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant dianthus.

Planting Calendar for Dianthus

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

Dianthus do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant dianthus in Atherton 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 dianthus and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your dianthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dianthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Atherton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Atherton is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Atherton you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your dianthus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atherton

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 Atherton

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