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.

In Donaldsonville you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant carnation by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Donaldsonville is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Donaldsonville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Donaldsonville is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Donaldsonville it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your carnation if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Donaldsonville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Donaldsonville

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