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

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant dusty miller is to examine the USDA zone info for Carmel.

Planting Calendar for Dusty Miller

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

Dusty Miller tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant dusty miller in Carmel 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 dusty miller and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your dusty miller may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dusty miller indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carmel is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Carmel you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dusty miller in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carmel

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 Carmel

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