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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Streamwood it's possible to determine when 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.

Carnation do well in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Streamwood 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Streamwood. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Streamwood is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Streamwood you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your carnation if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Streamwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Streamwood

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