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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Arcadia it's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant carnation.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Arcadia 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 really do well. Starting your carnation indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Arcadia. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Arcadia is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Arcadia it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your carnation in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Arcadia

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 Arcadia

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