One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You will be able to estimate when to plant petunias by using the USDA zone info for Mount Carmel.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant petunias a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Mount Carmel is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Mount Carmel the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Carmel is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Carmel there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your petunias if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Carmel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Mount Carmel

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Carmel.