One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant carnation is to refer to the USDA zone info for Leesburg.

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 one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Leesburg 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. Any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Leesburg. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Leesburg is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Leesburg last frost occurs after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your carnation in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Leesburg

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 Leesburg

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