One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Ironwood should be reffered to in order to estimate when you can 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 ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Ironwood 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 carnation and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carnation may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your carnation indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Ironwood. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ironwood is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ironwood it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your carnation in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ironwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Ironwood

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