One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant osteospermum in Carbondale can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Osteospermum

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

Since osteospermum do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant osteospermum in Carbondale 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 osteospermum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your osteospermum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your osteospermum indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carbondale is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Carbondale last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your osteospermum in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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