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.

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant carnation by using the USDA zone info for Sparta.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Sparta 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 little bit earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sparta. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparta is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sparta you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your carnation if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

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 Sparta

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