One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 it's a good idea to plant carnation is to use the USDA zone info for Adel.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Carnation do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Adel 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 carnation and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Adel the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Adel and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Adel you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your carnation if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Adel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Adel

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